


Taming the Crazy Horse

by akane47



Category: Sungkyunkwan Scandal
Genre: F/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-20
Updated: 2012-04-01
Packaged: 2017-10-26 07:56:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 61,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/280623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akane47/pseuds/akane47
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moon Jae-shin is distracted, not just by a case that is forcing him to come to terms with his past, but also by the compulsion to build a future with his new bride.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** The SKKS-verse belongs to the creators of _Sungkyunkwan Scandal_. I only own Ka-hai and her family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** The first part of this chapter is adapted from Jae-shin's epilogue in the final episode.
> 
>  **Technical Notes:** The names of Ka-hai, her father and her brothers were all inspired by the names of characters in Conn Iggulden's novels about the life of Genghis Khan. I tried my best to make them sound Korean, but am not going to sweat the fact that, despite my best efforts, they still don't :-p At any rate, parts of Korea were annexed by the Mongols during the Goryeo period. I imagine that a fair amount of political, economic and cultural exchange occurred during the 80 years of colonization, making it possible for slightly foreign-sounding names to be adopted by the people of the region.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** Please note that this is not a slash fic, despite the obvious Jae-shin/Yong-ha bromance going on in canon. I have nothing against slash, but am operating on the assumption that Jae-shin is still attracted to girls even though they give him hiccups. (He still liked Yoon-hee after finding out she was a girl, didn't he?) I hope you enjoy :)

  
_Chapter One_

"The Blue Messenger! It's the Blue Messenger!"

Detective First Class Moon Jae-shin couldn't help feeling a bit smug as he heard the cries of the people in the streets. Besides being barely legible and exhibiting execrable grammar, the messages distributed by this emerging vigilante had the subtlety of a kick in the face. As a result, he had had a very good idea of where the Blue Messenger would strike next.

Sure enough, moments later, a lithe figure all in black came running over the rooftops. Jae-shin immediately began pursuit. Thanks to his misspent youth, he knew every escape route in this city; it was one of the things that made him uniquely qualified to work on this case.

Moving swiftly and silently, like an arrow in the night, the Blue Messenger slid over tiles and leapt over ridgepoles. He laughed softly, having pulled off another daring caper, but stopped short upon seeing someone from the Ministry of War standing in his path, waiting for him.

Jae-shin reached out to collar the Blue Messenger, who was surprisingly short, but he deflected the motion. They tussled briefly, and the Blue Messenger's mask fell away, baring a woman's face to the moonlight.

His jaw dropped, but he managed to keep his head and retain his grip on the front of her tunic. Reaching into his own, he pulled out a blue slip of paper and dangled it in front of her face. It was the last message; besides analyzing it for clues, he had also marked it for grammar and content. "You had better do better next time," Jae-shin told her. "If you keep writing this horribly, it's going to become a habit."

He felt some satisfaction as he thrust the paper at her and turned away. He had clearly shocked her as much as she had him. Nevertheless, he was still mostly put out over going through all this trouble for a rank amateur. "What in the world are they teaching at Sungkyunkwan these days?" he grumbled. "These messages keep getting worse and worse."

Then he hiccuped. As he did so, Jae-shin heard a faint movement and turned to find that the Blue Messenger had escaped.

"Did you see him?"

Jae-shin turned; his partner on the force, Ha In-soo, was clambering onto the roof. "Yes," Jae-shin replied. "But the Messenger was a bit too fast for me."

The other man smirked. Jae-shin remembered that expression well from when they were scholars at Sungkyunkwan University, but these days, he knew that In-soo used it just to tease him. "You must be slowing down, old man."

"We're the same age," he pointed out. "Besides, it's better to slow down than to have never sped up at all. If I recall correctly, this is the first time I've seen you climb anything taller than a horse."

He knew that he had won the latest round in their war of words when In-soo made no reply, choosing instead to hand him a blue leaflet. "The Blue Messenger's latest opus," he said. "Maybe it will help us catch him next time."

Suddenly, there was an angry shriek. An old woman was standing down in the yard, her hands on her hips. "What are you doing on my roof?"

"This is official police business, ajumma," In-soo told her. "We were in pursuit of a wanted criminal."

"Well, you make sure your official police business doesn't damage my roof," she snapped, waving a wooden spoon at them. "If you break any of the tiles, you're going to have to fix it, and don't think I'm too old to make sure you do a good job!"

* * *

Thanks to the Blue Messenger's latest appearance, Jae-shin was late to the gathering of the old Jalgeum Quartet at the home of his closest friend, Gu Yong-ha. Besides him and Yong-ha, the Quartet comprised two more of their friends from Sungkyunkwan, Lee Sun-joon and his wife, Kim Yoon-hee, both professors at the university.

"The workaholic is here at last!" Yong-ha crowed as a manservant escorted Jae-shin into the dining room. "What took you so long?"

"We almost caught the Blue Messenger tonight," he replied. "And then In-soo and I had to file a report."

"Oh, no wonder you're so late. In-soo takes forever to write reports. I hear his love letters to Cho-sun have to be re-written five times before he sends them."

"You mean she hasn't accepted him yet?" Yoon-hee asked.

"No. I think she's having fun stringing him along."

She nodded approvingly. "Cho-sun deserves to be courted like a respectable lady. It's clear that In-soo sunbae truly loves her, otherwise he wouldn't indulge her so. I think things will end happily for them."

"How do you find out about the letters, sa-hyung?" Sun-joon asked Yong-ha.

"I have my sources," he replied, preening. "After all, I'm—"

"—Gu Yong-ha," his friends finished for him.

Yong-ha gave them a brilliant smile that was only a tad less bright than the shade of orange he was wearing. "You know it!"

It sounded like a joke, but Jae-shin had to admit that Yong-ha did have his ways of finding things out, sometimes even before they happened. As the son of a wealthy businessman and now a successful merchant in his own right, he had access to a wide network that was typically closed to the yangban, or the noble class to which his friends belonged. He had been a great help in quite a few of Jae-shin's past cases.

"So did you find out anything new about the Blue Messenger?" Yong-ha asked him.

"Not much," Jae-shin said, before he could even start debating whether or not to tell his friends that the Blue Messenger was a woman. Once upon a time, his first instinct would be to tell them everything he knew, but he had clearly spent too much time speaking with other government officers. Besides, he was still recovering from the shock himself. "He left another message. Naturally, we'll be analyzing it for clues to find out where he might strike next. Maybe we'll catch him then."

"In other words, they didn't find out much," Sun-joon translated with a chuckle. "You sound like my father when people ask him about what's being done about this or that, and he doesn't want to say that nothing has been done."

"I think our Geol-oh is finally growing up," Yong-ha teased, drawing a silk handkerchief from his sleeve and dabbing at his eyes playfully. "He's starting to talk like an adult, anyway."

"Shut up." Jae-shin snatched the handkerchief away and then tossed it back in his friend's face. "I might not be the Red Messenger anymore, but that doesn't mean I've turned into a government drone."

As if to illustrate, he pulled off his hat and undid his topknot, allowing his shaggy dark hair to hang untidily in his face just as it did during their student days at Sungkyunkwan. "Working for the Ministry of War allows me to use my head and keep active at the same time, that's all," he declared. "Mark my words: this is as respectable and settled-down as I'm going to get."

* * *

A light was burning in his father's study when Jae-shin returned home, indicating that the older man was still awake. Sure enough, he entered the study to find Minister of Justice Moon Geun-soo seated at a table, gravely perusing some documents. "I'm home, Abeonim," he said.

His father's shoulders relaxed slightly upon hearing his voice, a tiny sign of his relief that his son was all right, but the expression on his round, rather jowly face was neutral. "It was the Blue Messenger again, wasn't it?" he asked. "The steward mentioned that blue papers were flying in the streets again tonight."

Jae-shin made an affirmative noise as he settled himself across the low table. "We came close to catching the Messenger this time. In-soo saved a copy of the latest message and we'll be analyzing it for more clues. Perhaps we'll finally be successful next time."

Minister Moon smiled wryly. "Don't you mean that _you'll_ be analyzing the message?"

"I'll probably end up doing most of the work there," he admitted, "but to be fair, In-soo contributes a lot to the partnership, too." It was true; even though their fathers were from rival political factions and they had detested each other at school, he and In-soo worked surprisingly well together. Jae-shin may be considered the brains of the partnership, but In-soo was good at all the administrative minutiae, like hobnobbing with higher-ups and filing official reports, for which Jae-shin had no patience.

His father grunted and set aside the document he had been reading. "Well, I trust you'll keep me updated on the progress of the case. Although capturing the Blue Messenger is the work of the War Ministry, my people will take over once he is in custody."

"Yes, Abeonim." Bowing respectfully to the older man, Jae-shin made a move to rise.

Minister Moon spoke again before he get to his feet. "One more thing, Jae-shin."

"Yes, Abeonim?" he asked, sitting back down again.

"Since we're already speaking, I might as well tell you that I've found you a bride."

Jae-shin sat stock-still, unable to speak. He felt as though an iron band had closed in around his neck.

His father looked at him and, accepting his reaction as perfectly normal, went on with his speech. "I trust you know of the Cha family; they're yangbans who own a large estate just outside the city. The wife is a relative of your late mother."

He nodded numbly. Naturally, he had heard of the Chas because of their status as nobles and landowners, and because they were distant kinsmen, but knew very little beyond that. There hadn't been much opportunity or reason to get to know them because Jae-shin's mother had died when he was a baby.

"You will be betrothed to their only daughter, Ka-hai. She is about your age."

Jae-shin swallowed, too shocked to even hiccup.

Minister Moon smiled suddenly. "I wouldn't be so worried if I were you. If your mother and her kinswoman are anything to go on, then Cha Ka-hai is sure to be a lovely and biddable girl."

* * *

Now, this was something he definitely had to tell his friends. To their credit, although the Jalgeum Quartet had just seen each other, they promptly came together again the very next evening. "Did Bok-dong get the message right, sa-hyung?" Sun-joon asked as he and Yoon-hee returned to Yong-ha's house. Besides their gracious host, the incipient bridegroom was already there. "Are you really going to be married?"

Yong-ha had been pressing him for information ever since he arrived, but Jae-shin had decided to keep silent until all his friends were present. He didn't want to go through everything twice.

"That's what the message said, didn't it?" Jae-shin replied, pouring himself a healthy slug of soju.

He tried to take a drink but Yong-ha grabbed his cup and downed it himself. "Who is she?" he demanded as Yoon-hee clapped her hands in delight. "Who is this girl who's silly enough to have you?"

"My father says her name is Cha Ka-hai," Jae-shin answered, hiccuping even though he'd barely had a drop to drink. Just the mention of the girl's name and the idea that she was going to be his wife was enough to rattle him. "She's the only daughter of the Cha family who live outside of town."

"Hmm." Yong-ha rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I know that the family makes most of its money from breeding livestock, and the eldest son, Ka-sar, is a fine swordsman, but I don't know anything about the sister."

"Did Minister Moon say anything about what Ka-hai is like, sa-hyung?" Yoon-hee wanted to know.

Jae-shin poured himself some more liquor and gulped it down before Yong-ha could take it away. "Abeonim says she's pretty and biddable, that's all."

To their surprise, Yoon-hee wrinkled her nose. "I sincerely hope that's not true."

"You don't want her to be pretty?!" Yong-ha gasped, scandalized.

"What's wrong with a bride who's biddable?" Sun-joon asked.

"Every girl of good family has been described as 'pretty and biddable' since time immemorial," Yoon-hee explained, rolling her eyes. "Our Geol-oh shouldn't have a bride who's just like all the others."

A small smile touched Jae-shin's lips, and he hid it by running a hand through his hair as if in frustration. The only girl he knew who wasn't anything like all the others was Yoon-hee herself, and she couldn't possibly become his bride.

Well, one never got everything he wanted in this life.

"And one more thing," added the only female member of the Jalgeum Quartet, with a saucy glance at her husband. "If you had ended up with a biddable girl, Lee Sun-joon, then the two of you would probably have become the most boring couple in Joseon."


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Technical Notes:** In certain Asian cultures, married women do not take on their husbands' family names, so I hope you don't get confused when I refer to Lord Cha's wife (and any married women in subsequent chapters) by their maiden names. Also, while I'm not sure whether the term "Appa" already existed in SKKS-era Korea, I'm using it anyway to illustrate the informality of the Cha household - at least between father and children.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** Thanks to everyone who read the previous chapter. I hope you'll give this fic a chance :)

_Chapter Two_

The first time Jae-shin saw his intended bride, she was windblown, smelling of the stables, and apparently wearing her brother's old clothes.

After giving his son what he thought was enough time to get over the initial shock, Minister Moon surprised his son again one morning by ordering him to wash and dress in proper clothing; that day, they were going to visit the Cha estate so that he could meet his betrothed.

Jae-shin's future in-laws received their guests in a spacious, luxuriously appointed room inside their sprawling house. "Nice day for a ride," Cha Bo-dae remarked after the Moons had settled themselves on silken cushions and the lady of the house, Kang Min-ah, directed the servants to serve refreshments.

"Indeed," Minister Moon agreed mildly. "We had a very pleasant trip here."

"I'm glad to hear that." Even though Lord Cha was addressing his father, Jae-shin could feel the other man's eyes on him, most probably scrutinizing his looks, his manner and every move he made. He was sorely tempted to do something to scare off the girl's father, but he couldn't shame his family.

"You have a lovely home."

"Thank you." He chuckled. "What you see is the result of a family effort — the men earn the money, and the women spend it."

Minister Moon laughed politely. "Well, it is clear that you have all done your part well. Speaking of your family, where are the children?"

"Ah...." Did an uncertain look pass between Lord Cha and Lady Kang? "They're somewhere around the estate. I sent for them when we saw people coming." He smiled apologetically. "I suppose it would have been proper for them to be on hand to greet you, but there's no end to work on a farm, and I insist that my children spend some time learning how things are done."

"Even your daughter?"

The answer, it turned out, was yes. At that moment, three young men burst into the room. "Appa!" the tallest one said excitedly. "You won't believe the—" He broke off when he realized that his father had guests. "Oops...."

Jae-shin had turned towards the newcomers in the commotion. Perhaps attending Sungkyunkwan with Yoon-hee, who had spent part of it posing as a man, had made him more sensitive to this sort of thing, but he was fairly sure that the smallest of the "young men" was not a man at all. She was almost as tall as her brothers and resembled them to some degree, but her angular features were softer and more delicate. He became absolutely certain that he was right when the person in question looked at him and her eyes grew round.

Despite having the reality of her betrothal crammed down her throat during every waking moment ever since the match had been proposed, Cha Ka-hai still felt rooted to the spot when she came face-to-face with her incipient bridegroom. Her mortification grew when he hiccuped in shock. This was not the way she had hoped to meet him.

She was saved from having to think of a way out of the situation by her mother, who created a diversion by turning deathly white and swooning into her surprised husband's lap.

 _"Omoni!"_ Instead of making a discreet exit as a wise person would, Ka-hai dropped to her knees at the unconscious woman's side, calling over her shoulder for someone to bring her a cut onion. "What happened, Appa?"

Her father didn't have to say a word. He just looked pointedly at her attire and suggested coolly, "Children, as you can see, we have guests. Why don't you freshen up and join us? The servants will see to your mother."

She felt her brothers each take one of her arms and together, they hoisted her to her feet. "Welcome to our home, my lords," Ka-sar told them cheerfully. "As you can see, we've just come in from doing some work around the estate. Pray excuse us; we'll rejoin you after we've made ourselves presentable."

Then, as if she hadn't been humiliated enough, Ka-sar and Ka-chun frog-marched her from the room.  


* * *

 _" What were you thinking?!"_

 _"Ouch!"_ Ka-hai exclaimed as her personal maid, Kwan-sook, roughly dragged a brush through her long, dark hair. "Are you trying to pull out all my hair?"

"I might as well do that if you're going to show up looking like you've been dragged through a bush backwards," the maid snapped, beginning to re-braid her mistress' hair with quick, jerking tugs. "You knew that the young lord was coming today, but you couldn't even be bothered to prepare for his arrival."

"Really? Then what is it I'm doing now?" While Kwan-sook arranged her hair, Lady Kang's personal maid was quickly sponging her body with perfumed water to remove the smell of the stables. There was no need to lay out her clothes; Ka-hai's best hanbok had been hanging from a hook since yesterday afternoon.

"You know I meant preparing _on time_. His lordship told you to stay close to the house, and he sent for you the moment he knew they were coming. The servants found you clear across the estate, didn't they?"

"We forgot," she admitted sheepishly. "It was so beautiful outside, and the new horses are amazing, and Ka-chun suggested a race—"

"Is Ka-chun the oldest? Do you have to follow what he says?" The maid sighed in frustration and grabbed a towel to help dry off Ka-hai so that she could get dressed. "If you're trying to scare that young man away, I think you're doing a very good job of it."

There was a knock on the door just as Ka-hai was tying her jeogori. Kwan-sook opened it to admit one of the younger maids, who reported, "The master sent me to check on the young mistress. The mistress has had to lie down, so the master says that the young mistress must help him entertain the guests."

"They're _her_ guests, anyway," Kwan-sook said. "Tell him she'll be right out."

Ka-hai felt slightly more confident when she rejoined her family and their guests, but only just. She was glad to reappear before them dressed as she was originally supposed to, but knew that there was no erasing the abysmal first impression she must have made on her future family.

"Here she is at last," her father announced when she entered the room. His tone was jovial, but the flinty look in his eye told Ka-hai that he was displeased with her. "This is my daughter, Ka-hai. Ka-hai, this is Moon Geun-soo, the Minister of Justice, and his son, Jae-shin."

"Welcome," she said, glancing unseeingly at Minister Moon and his son before bowing her head. "I am deeply sorry for keeping everyone waiting."

"Think nothing of it, my dear," said an unfamiliar male voice.

Ka-hai looked up to see that it was Minister Moon speaking. He was a bearded ox of a man who seemed given to looking somber, but to her relief, he didn't seem angry. "It's been a while since Jae-shin's dear mother passed on," he continued, "but I do remember that ladies like to take their time in making themselves pretty. And if I may be so bold," he added with a small smile, "the wait was well worth it."

She heard one of her brothers stifle a snort of laughter at that, but their father was seated in between them so that she couldn't poke him. Instead, she gave her future father-in-law what she hoped was a winsome smile. "Thank you, my lord."  


* * *

After what had to be the longest and most torturous meal ever, Lord Cha ordered his children to show Jae-shin around the gardens so that he and Minister Moon could speak in private. It had been difficult to pretend that the earlier incident hadn't happened and thus avoid any awkwardness, so when they were gone, he dropped all pretense. Although he was a yangban, he often dealt with farmers, not diplomats, and felt more comfortable when speaking plainly.

"I'm sorry that you had to see that, Minister," he began, "but I guess it's all for the best. In my business dealings, you want to know as much as you can about what you're getting before you buy it.

"My daughter clearly isn't as pretty or feminine as other girls out there — that's my fault. My blood runs true in all my children and I'll admit that times haven't always been good for us, so all of them know how to work on a farm." Lord Cha looked earnestly at his prospective in-law. "But Ka-hai is healthy and intelligent. She's fairly skilled at healing and, as you may have noticed, she can take over when her mother is ill and you won't know the difference."

He cleared his throat. "Still, I'll understand if you want to call off the betrothal and find your son a wife elsewhere. Your son looks like a fine boy and I'm sure you won't have any trouble finding another match for him. I just wanted to say my piece before you decided."

Minister Moon was silent for a moment. "No," he said finally. "I still accept the match. It's time that Jae-shin took a wife."

Lord Cha blinked. "Are you sure about that?" he blurted out. "I'm not trying to scare you away, but... I _did_ say I would understand if you decided to cry off."

"You did, and thank you; but yes, I'm certain." He chuckled. "I like your daughter. She looks like she has spirit."

"That she does," Lord Cha agreed, relaxing slightly and venturing a smile. Moments ago, he was sure that Ka-hai had ruined any chances of a match with the minister's son, turning up as she had in those grubby men's clothes; now, he couldn't believe his luck. Min-ah would be greatly relieved.

"That's good. Jae-shin is... headstrong at times. He'll need a wife who can handle him." Minister Moon nodded decisively. "I think they'll suit each other just fine."  


* * *

While their fathers conferred inside, Ka-hai was showing Jae-shin the garden and trying to ignore the teasing grins of her brothers, who were acting as chaperons. "Do you have gardens like this in the city, my lord?" she asked, trying to make conversation. So far, he hadn't said anything, save for the occasional grunt when she pointed out something of interest.

"The grander houses do," he answered. His voice was lower than Ka-sar's, and he spoke quietly. (At least, she thought, he wouldn't spook the horses.) "But they're smaller than this. Space is harder to come by in the city."

She nodded, wondering what to say next.

Fortunately, Jae-shin seemed to believe that it was his turn to contribute to the conversation. "Do you require a house with a garden?" he asked her.

Ka-hai hesitated. Saying yes might make her appear frivolous. On the other hand, saying no would be lying. "I don't think I _need_ a garden," she said finally. "I'm not an expert with plants — Ka-chun is the gardener in the family — but it would be nice to have one, to remind me of growing up in the country."

"Well... we have one."

"That's nice."

Her brothers snickered audibly.

Jae-shin turned to them. "My lords, would you give me and your sister a moment to speak in private?"

They had probably been expecting a reprimand, so the polite request surprised them. The taller one, whom Jae-shin assumed was Ka-sar, recovered first and regarded him suspiciously. "Is it all right if we leave you alone with him, noonim?" he asked his sister.

Ka-hai glanced at him and, instead of acting shy, briskly waved off her brothers. "It's fine. We'll stay right here and you just go over there. Ka-chun, you said you wanted to check up on that tree, anyway."

He nodded gratefully to Ka-sar and Ka-chun as they withdrew with their sister's permission. It was hard enough figuring out what he was doing without them hanging around. However, he thought with some amusement, if his brother had lived long enough to go courting, then Jae-shin might have done his share of smirking and snickering in the background, too.

Ka-hai watched her brothers leave and turned back to him when they were out of earshot. She was tall enough to almost look him straight in the eye. "What is it, my lord?" she asked, her expression mildly curious.

"I brought you something," he told her, just managing to suppress a hiccup. "A present."

Reaching into his sleeve, Jae-shin withdrew a small parcel and presented it to her. "It was my mother's," he said as she removed the pale green silk wrapping and found a hairpin carved of white jade. "My father— _we_ thought it would be proper for you to have it."

"It's beautiful." After admiring the ornament for a while, she promptly stuck it into the bun at the back of her head and gave him a sunny smile. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he replied, and then hiccuped.

Her smile instantly darkened into a concerned frown. "Are you all right?" Ka-hai asked. "You've been hiccuping all afternoon. Do you want some water?"

He shook his head, blushing with embarrassment. "I'm fine. It's just a... habit."

"Pretty strange habit," she murmured, then shrugged. "I guess people can't choose their habits sometimes. Are you sure you're all right?"

"I said I was fine," he told her, a little more sharply than he had intended.

Ka-hai looked taken aback at his tone of voice, but she nodded and spoke again before he could apologize. "Well, thank you again for the lovely gift," she said politely, and paused. "Was that all you wanted to discuss with me? Shall I call back my brothers?"

Jae-shin hesitated. "Actually... there is one more thing."

"All right. What is it?"

"Do you really want to marry me?"

Ka-hai was surprised. Why was he asking her this? Did he want to call off the betrothal? Panic gripped her, but it dissipated quickly as she realized that he probably did want to cry off, but lacked the nerve to initiate the break. Well, it was true that she wasn't chomping at the bit to get married, but she didn't like the idea of being compelled to do his dirty work.

Finally, she shrugged. "I guess so."

 _"You guess so?"_ he repeated incredulously.

"Sure. I mean, what else is there for a girl to do? I'm going to have to keep house whether or not I marry. It might as well be my husband's house."

"So _anyone_ would do?" Jae-shin asked, sounding insulted.

"Of course not. I can't marry just anyone," she pointed out. "We breed horses on this estate, my lord, and we pair the horses carefully. It wouldn't make sense to do that and not put the same amount of thought in choosing our own mates. You were very carefully selected, my lord. At least," she added in an offhand tone of voice, "that's what my father leads me to believe."

He glowered. "You make me sound like a stallion being put out to stud."

"Well, it seems that you're in the market for a brood mare," Ka-hai pointed out, "so that makes us even." She felt guilty for goading him, and half-afraid that he might call her bluff, but if this betrothal was going to be broken, it wouldn't be by her hand. (Not directly, anyway.) "I suppose the question facing us now is whether I am to be _your_ brood mare... or someone else's."  


* * *

"Your writing has improved, but only slightly."

The Blue Messenger stopped a short distance from Jae-shin, who was lounging comfortably on a rooftop with his back against a chimney, and planted her hands on her hips. "What's wrong with it _this_ time?" she asked.

It was the first time he had seen her since their first encounter, when she had been unmasked, and the first time he had heard her speak. Her voice was clear as a bell, but her accent curiously harsh; she did not sound like a highborn lady.

He held out her last leaflet, his corrections written as usual in red ink. "I guess I _could_ agree with the substance of what you've written here, but there's still too much hysteria for my taste."

She glared as she snatched it away. "Well, if the government didn't do stupid things at the wrong time of the month, then maybe I wouldn't be so hysterical."

Jae-shin had no idea what that meant, so he ignored it. "People like you are supposed to provoke the public into thinking for themselves," he lectured. "Not blind rebellion. Next time, why don't you try proposing solutions for whatever it is you're complaining about?"

"Hmm, that's a good idea," the Messenger replied sarcastically. "I think I'll start by saying that all government officials should do their jobs instead of living off the sweat of the people. For example — _you_. Why aren't you killing or arresting me?"

"I'd like to," he told her, folding his hands behind his head. "I've been working this case for so long that it's starting to bore me."

"Then why aren't you moving?"

"If I caught you, then I'd have to file reports, and then they'll most probably make me testify at your trial. I don't have time to go through all that procedure right now. You see, I'm getting married."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Technical Notes:** I am neither Korean nor an expert on Korean history and culture, so please pardon any inaccuracies in this chapter (actually, in this whole story). I cobbled the wedding rituals together based on the results of a Google search, a re-watching of Goong, and a little bit of my own interpretation. I also learned loooong after I had written this fic that husbands and wives customarily do not call each other by their given names, but I must admit that I am just too lazy to go back and tweak things. Sorry about that.
> 
> At the same time, though, while accuracy is infinitely desirable, but I don't want to stress about every little detail. This is supposed to be fun, dudes!

_Chapter Three_

Dusk was falling as the groom's party, composed of Jae-shin, his father and some friends and servants, made its way to the Cha estate for the wedding. Lanterns lit the road like fireflies as far as the eye could see, their warm glow illuminating the awed faces in the crowd that lined the streets.

Everyone had a right to watch a wedding procession, Jae-shin told himself as he rode past a clutch of whispering gawkers, but did everyone in the kingdom really have to turn out to watch _his_?

He tried for the fifth time to loosen his collar, only to have his knuckles rapped smartly by one of Yong-ha's ubiquitous fans. "Stop fiddling with that," his friend admonished, his bright yellow overcoat glowing in the growing darkness.

"It's choking me," Jae-shin complained.

"It's _fine_. Do you want to go to your bride looking like you just rolled out of bed?"

"I'm not wearing my sleeping clothes, am I?" he retorted. Actually, he was wearing his dress uniform, a round-necked violet robe signifying that he was a junior government official, with the insignia of the Ministry of War on the chest. A samo, or winged black hat, crowned his head.

Sun-joon looked sympathetic. "Sa-hyung is just nervous. On my wedding day, I thought I was going to strangle to death."

"Really, now?" his wife asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Only because I was so impatient to be married to you, my love," he soothed.

"You're not going to be as insufferable as those two when _you're_ married, are you, old man?" In-soo wanted to know. "It's bad enough that those two are trying to make the rest of us jealous. I don't think I'll be able to take it if you started acting like that, too."

" _I'm_ not jealous," Yong-ha told the other man loftily. "By the way, that's a very fine horse you've got there, Geol-oh. Nothing but the best for Sungkyunkwan's crazy horse, right?"

"It's a present from... my father-in-law," Jae-shin said, the word still sticking in his throat a bit.

"Really! If the rest of his stock is that good, then I just might trade in this one and get myself a newer model. I wonder if he has a black horse for sale. Black goes with everything."

"I thought you hated wearing black clothes, sa-hyung," Yoon-hee remarked.

"Yes, but it's the best color for accessories, my dear."

All the talk about horses led Jae-shin to remember his first conversation with Ka-hai, and how it had deteriorated into a discussion about horse breeding. Later on, he had felt ashamed at leading the conversation to such an indelicate topic, but at least Ka-hai hadn't been scandalized. They probably talked about things like that all the time in her family.

More than that, though, he hadn't liked her implication that if he wouldn't have her, then she would just go and marry someone else. She was selling herself short if she thought that all she was good for was to keep house and have children. Women had more worth in the new Joseon.

Besides, he had just become accustomed to the idea that Ka-hai was going to be his wife. She really didn't have to go upsetting the apple cart like that.

* * *

Upon arriving at the gates of the Cha estate, the small party paused so that the young men in the group could don garish costumes and paint their faces with squid ink. "I'm only doing this because we've been friends for so long, Geol-oh," Yong-ha told him, grimacing as he tried to smear the black stuff on his cheeks without getting any on his clothes.

"And _I'm_ only doing this because you don't have many friends," In-soo teased. "Why are you doing this, Sun-joon?"

The third man, who had dressed and painted his face with quiet efficiency, looked at them blankly. "I'm doing this because although we live in a new Joseon, we should still uphold old traditions," he said, as though it was something that everyone should know. "And also because Geol-oh sa-hyung is my friend and he did this for me when I got married."

"If you were really his friend," Yong-ha suggested, "then you would carry the _hahm_." The _hahm_ , a bulky wooden chest filled with gifts for the bride and wrapped in red silk, was strapped to his back.

Sun-joon grinned, his teeth white against his blackened face. "Oh, but I wouldn't dream of taking that honor away from his oldest friend, sa-hyung."

Jae-shin couldn't help smiling, too. Part of him still wanted to bolt, but his friends were helping ease his nervousness somewhat. He was sure that, had he been alive, Young-shin would have been right here, too, painting his face and joking around. "Well, I appreciate all your help, gentlemen."

Having finished his toilette, Yong-ha wiped his hands fastidiously on a towel offered by a waiting servant. He smiled at his partners in crime. "Shall we proceed?"

When the others indicated that they were ready, Jae-shin's friends led the party to the house on foot, hollering, _"Hahm for sale! Buy a hahm!"_

Some distance away from the house, Lord Cha, accompanied by his sons and a coterie of laughing servants, came out to greet the guests and begin the negotiations over Jae-shin's right to present himself to his bride. Yong-ha, as bearer of the _hahm_ , argued on his friend's behalf opposite Ka-sar, who was negotiating for his sister.

The negotiations were long and loud, due to the fact that both participants were wily businessmen and loved being the center of attention. Yong-ha demanded a high price to entice the bridegroom to enter the house, but Ka-sar didn't take that lying down and stated that Jae-shin must pay dearly for the honor of marrying his only sister. To plead his case, Yong-ha extolled Jae-shin's numerous virtues — including one that had Sun-joon ordering his giggling wife to cover her ears — while his counterpart praised Ka-hai to the highest heavens, comparing her to precious jewels, goddesses and delicate flowers that had Ka-chun snorting with laughter and their father looking skeptical.

There was loud applause when a settlement was reached. After the negotiators had taken their bows, the bridegroom's party was admitted into the house so that his friends could make themselves presentable again and rejoin the party for the formal ceremonies.

Before entering the room where his incipient parents-in-law waited, Jae-shin accepted from In-soo a live wild goose, wrapped in a brightly colored cloth with its beak and feet tied together to keep it from getting away. For once, his partner didn't have a snide comment for the occasion.

Jae-shin could feel everyone's eyes on him as he and his father joined Ka-hai's parents in front of the Cha family's ancestral shrine. It was his first time to see Lady Cha again after her fainting episode, and she smiled at him kindly.

Her smile wavered and her eyes grew misty when she heard a light step behind her, and the bride made her appearance, resplendent in ornate wedding clothes of red, gold and green. A red circle was painted in the middle of her forehead and on each cheek, and the small jeweled coronet on her head made her was easily as tall as he.

Minister Moon prodded him discreetly, reminding Jae-shin to come forward and lay the wild goose he carried on a small table in the center of the room. Wild geese, which mated for life, were a symbol of fidelity.

Fortunately, the goose behaved during its part of the ritual, and they were able to move smoothly to the formal unification ceremony, which would make Jae-shin and Ka-hai man and wife. After bowing low to each other, the bridal couple seated themselves at a low table and accepted cups of special wine.

Jae-shin's hiccups were threatening again and he was tempted to down all of his wine, but he managed to keep himself under control and take only a sip. He stole a glance at Ka-hai as he handed his cup back to her mother, but she kept her eyes cast down. It was hard to equate this silent, remote doll with the hoyden who had burst into the house dressed like a man and talked to him frankly of brood mares.

The remainder of their wine was mixed together and poured back into their cups for them to finish, then the bridal couple concluded the ceremony by making their bows to the ancestral shrine, Ka-hai's parents and finally the wedding guests. A loud cheer went up as Jae-shin presented Ka-hai to her new father-in-law.

He took a deep breath as a beaming Minister Moon took his new daughter by the hand and welcomed her into the family. At last, it was over.

Or so he thought.

* * *

Jae-shin found out soon enough that the evening was just beginning. He had been so preoccupied with getting through the formal ceremonies that he didn't realize that he was going to spend his wedding night locked in a bedroom with his bride until most of the menfolk, most of them already happily inebriated from the bountiful wedding feast, hoisted him to his feet and began hustling him towards the bridal chamber.

"Don't worry, we made sure the servants put lots of food and drink in there for you," Ka-sar assured him. "It takes a lot of strength to break a filly!"

Laughing, Ka-chun reached up to snatch off Jae-shin's hat and, with the help of others in the party, stripped him of his court robe. "You're not going to need these tonight!"

Even his friends wouldn't leave him alone. "She's not quite the type I would have chosen for you," Yong-ha remarked, "but I see a lot of potential!"

"I hope you don't fail this exam, old man," In-soo murmured to him. "They didn't cover the material in Sungkyunkwan."

Sun-joon, however, came to the rescue. Just before their friends opened the door, he slipped a small, red-covered book in Jae-shin's hand. "Just in case you need ideas, sa-hyung," he whispered.

He had just managed to conceal the book in his jeogori when his escorts knocked on Ka-hai's door and, without bothering to wait for an answer, opened the door and shoved him into the room.

The ladies inside put up an indignant front for a while, but they all knew that it was time for them to leave and they soon withdrew, giggling and casting speculative looks at the newlyweds. Before he knew what he was doing, Jae-shin closed the door on them and his boisterous friends, leaving him and his bride alone.

She was sitting at a low table laden, as Ka-sar had promised, with choice tidbits from the wedding feast. Like him, she had been divested of her wedding finery and was largely ready to go to bed.

Ka-hai forced herself to look up at him. "Well, I'm glad to see that I'm not underdressed," she said, smiling feebly.

He hiccuped.

"Why don't you sit down and eat something?" she suggested, staring fixedly at a point somewhere above his eyebrows. "I don't know about you, but I've barely had anything to eat all day. It took forever to put on those wedding things and Omoni didn't want me to spill anything on them." With great effort, she managed to stop her babbling. "Anyway, you should sit down."

Jae-shin dropped down by the table and Ka-hai watched him take a drink of wine straight from the jug, grasping the neck of the vessel with strong brown fingers. If his father was an ox, she thought, her new husband was a stallion, as tall and rangy as Ka-sar, but broader in the shoulders and with bigger hands. The observation made her remember what she had once overheard the laundress saying, about men with big hands....

Blushing, she looked down and pretended to be busy choosing what to eat next. _Don't think about that!_

"What was that?" he asked her.

Ka-hai looked up. "What was what?"

"You said something."

"Me?" Her face went up in flames when she realized that she must have said something aloud. "Oh, it's nothing!" she babbled. "Nothing! I was just... talking to myself."

Jae-shin looked suspicious, but she managed to look him in the eye. It was the truth, she thought; what she had said definitely hadn't been intended for his ears. Finally, he grunted and helped himself to a sticky rice cake speckled with sesame seeds. "Don't be afraid," he said after the cake was gone, washed down with another gulp of wine. "Nothing has to happen if you don't wish it."

"I'm not afraid," Ka-hai told him. Growing up on a farm meant that she knew how animals mated. She was innocent, but not so naive that she had no idea how the whole business worked.

"Nervous, then," he amended.

"Oh. All right." Dropping her gaze, she took something from one of the dishes on the table and popped it into her mouth without even knowing what it was. Well, she couldn't deny that she was nervous. Although she knew what was expected of them that night, she wasn't sure if she was completely prepared to actually do it.

She supposed that this made Jae-shin a considerate husband, even if he was drinking the wine straight out of the jug and apparently not intending to leave any for her.

"You can go on and sleep if you're tired," he added some time later. "You don't need to wait for me."

"I think I'll do that," she agreed. "It's been a very tiring day. Good night, my lord."

"Jae-shin," he said as she was making her way to the bed.

Ka-hai looked over her shoulder at him. "What?"

"My name is Jae-shin. You should probably call me that, since we're married."

"All right, then... Jae-shin." She gave him a polite smile. "Then I suppose you must call me Ka-hai."

He nodded briefly. "Good night, Ka-hai."

She inclined her head in acknowledgement of the greeting and then turned her attention back to getting ready for bed. Ka-hai pulled out the hairpin that had held her chignon in place (did Jae-shin just hiccup again?) and rubbed the back of her neck to try and dispel the prickling sensation that she felt there. _Tension,_ she told herself. That was all it was.

She lay down on her side, facing away from her husband. It was hard to go to sleep knowing there was a man in the room, even if he had every right to be there. He had said that they didn't have to do anything that night, but what was going to stop him from pouncing on her anyway, if he felt like it?

Ka-hai waited, barely breathing, but all she heard were the clink and clatter of dishes. Soon, the rigors of the day overtook her and she fell asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Jae-shin awoke and felt himself curled up against something warm. For a moment, he thought he was lying too close to one of his roommates again, but then remembered that he wasn't at Sungkyunkwan anymore, and that last night had been his wedding night.

He opened his eyes. Although he had lain down a decorous distance away from Ka-hai when he went to bed, they gravitated towards each other during the night and now huddled together like a couple of sleeping puppies. She lay with her cheek snuggled against his shoulder, so close that her breath wafted warmly over his skin, with one hand curved around his arm and a knee resting on his thigh.

He hiccuped and edged away from her. Ka-hai rolled away from him, too, and onto her back. Her eyes remained closed.

A wise man would have risen and run. Jae-shin, on the other hand, stayed put and leaned over her, wanting to get a closer look at the woman who was now his wife while she was asleep and unaware that he was doing so.

With her high, broad cheekbones and lightly tanned skin, most would probably disregard her at first glance as looking too masculine. Few would notice her wide, feminine mouth and the faint scattering of golden freckles dusting her nose; and perhaps only her husband would be able to see that her eyelashes were so long that they brushed her cheeks when she slept.

Said eyelashes fluttered, and in the next moment, a number of things happened at once: his arm slid out from under him, Ka-hai woke up and her bedroom door opened. Jae-shin fell on his face on top of her, lips mashing against her cheek, and she squealed, startled.

"Omo!" Yong-ha exclaimed while the couple on the bed froze in shock. "I _do_ beg your pardon! We'll come back later."

The door closed again and he rolled off her. "Sorry," he hiccuped. "It was an accident."

She sat up and edged away quickly, looking at him in a way that made him believe that he had made her angry, or even scared her. His face burned with shame. Although he wasn't as well-mannered as Yong-ha or Sun-joon, he wasn't a monster. "I told you I'm not going to force you to do anything you don't want to do," he reminded her. "I swear to you that still stands."

Finally, Ka-hai dropped her gaze and nodded, her cheeks as red as poppies. Outside, they could hear the babble of excited voices; Yong-ha was clearly not wasting any time spreading the news of what he had seen. "We... we should probably get dressed," she said stiffly as she got to her feet. "It sounds as though everyone knows we're awake."

* * *

Ka-hai was still recovering from the incident when the wedding party made its way to Jae-shin's home later that day for the _p'ye-baek_. She was traveling there in a palanquin borne by four of her father's strongest servants. Fortunately, her new husband wasn't riding the litter with her, so she had the trip to pull herself together and be able to face not just him, but everyone who thought that they had been... well, doing what newlyweds were supposed to do.

It had been a shock to wake up and find Jae-shin sprawled on top of her. He had taken down his hair last night, which had made him look like a wild man, and for a while Ka-hai had truly thought that he meant to break his promise from the night before. His embarrassment seemed genuine, though, and she believed him when he said it was an accident. However, she thought, blushing, maybe... someday... it might be nice to wake up to a husband who was doing that on purpose.

It was only when the bearers had stopped in front of her new home that she realized that she had left her father's house for good. The reality of that overwhelmed her and for a brief moment, Ka-hai was tempted to jump out of the palanquin and run all the way back to the Cha estate, but Jae-shin arrived to help her out of the conveyance while she was still debating on whether to make a run for it. She blinked back the prickle of tears and reminded herself that she was married now, and even if she did run home, her father would just send her back again.

As the servants looked on, the bridal couple entered the house and proceeded to a room where Jae-shin's father waited. Minister Moon smiled benignly as his new daughter-in-law offered him dates and chestnuts. They symbolized children, and while some may have been contented with a dish of them, her mother had packed her off with a whole basketful.

He then offered her tea, which she accepted meekly, taking onto her shoulders the burden of bearing children to continue his line. Then, as the onlookers laughed and clapped, he tossed the dates and chestnuts at her, obliging her to catch them in her overskirt.

Ka-hai's mind was a blank as she went after the treats, running and even sliding to her knees to catch them, unaware of Kwan-sook's shrill reminders to have a care for her clothes. She couldn't quite remember whether this part of the ritual was supposed to mean anything, but even if she did, she didn't care to think about it anymore.

It took her a while to realize that Minister Moon had run out of dates and chestnuts, and she looked up as he rose, laughing, to embrace her. "You did well, my dear."

She managed a smile for him. Even though she had embarrassed herself and her family terribly the first time they met, he had been nothing but nice to her. "Thank you, A-Abeonim."

"I've never had a daughter before, so you'll have to teach me how to treat one properly."

"I think you're doing quite well so far."

He patted her cheek fondly, then turned to his son, who had stood silently in the background throughout the proceedings. "Your wife must have caught half the basket, Jae-shin," he called with a grin. "That means I'm going to have lots and lots of grandchildren!"

Jae-shin smiled crookedly, even though he still avoided her eyes. "We'll do our best to oblige you, Abeonim."


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter Four_  
  
Professor Jung Yak-yong had changed very little in the years since Jae-shin and In-soo had been his students. Perhaps his hair was a little grayer and his face had some new lines in it, but his eyes still twinkled with keen intelligence, and he remained one of the finest minds in Joseon.  
  
"Well, gentlemen," he said pleasantly as the two detectives were admitted into his presence, "to what do I owe this pleasure?"  
  
"I'm afraid this isn't a social call, Professor," In-soo replied. Although he and Jae-shin were decked out in their police uniforms and clearly not students anymore, they were still ranged before his desk like scholars appealing their exam grades. "It's about the Blue Messenger case."  
  
The older man nodded. "I figured as much. How may I help you?"  
  
The former Sungkyunkwan student body president laid a sheaf of blue leaflets on the table. "These are samples of the Messenger's work," he began.  
  
Professor Jung spread them out and found that most had been marked and edited in a familiar hand. "I see you've been working hard on this case," he remarked, grinning. Jae-shin couldn't understand what the older man found so amusing. Who else had taught him to have such exacting standards?  
  
"We have a theory that the Blue Messenger is a Sungkyunkwan scholar," In-soo told him. "After all, no one else in the area would be educated enough to write such things."  
  
Jae-shin put on his most innocent expression as his partner sent a particularly pointed look in his direction. In-soo was one of the few who knew that Jae-shin and the infamous Red Messenger were the same person, and he had never been able to prove it. Of course, the issue was now moot and academic: the Red Messenger was no longer active, and nothing that Jae-shin did put him in conflict with his position at the Ministry of War. (It was the things he _didn't_ do — like apprehend the Blue Messenger when he had the chance — that would probably get him in trouble.)  
  
They watched as Professor Jung inspected the messages closely. "You may be correct," he concluded. "The type of sentiments and level of writing in these messages appear characteristic of an educated person, most likely a student at this school.  
  
"Further," he added, "I'm not entirely sure whether this handwriting is masculine. Your Blue Messenger could be a woman."  
  
"A woman!" In-soo exclaimed in surprise, and Jae-shin was relieved that he didn't have to tell his partner something that Jae-shin wasn't supposed to know. "Then it should be easy to find her!"  
  
"Not necessarily," Professor Jung told him. "Ever since the birth of the new Joseon, there has been a massive influx of students into Sungkyunkwan, both male and female. The student body is now four times as large as it was when you left. However, if you leave some of these samples with me, I promise you that I will compare it with the writing of _all_ the students here. If the Blue Messenger is a Sungkyunkwan scholar, we'll find him... or her."  
  
The detectives bowed respectfully. "Thank you, Professor."  
  
"I'm always happy to help my former students." The older man smiled at them, and then turned to Jae-shin. "And how is married life, Officer Moon? It's been a month, hasn't it?"  
  
Jae-shin shrugged. "It's all right, I guess."  
  
The only thing that had changed, really, was that he was now sharing his bedroom with another person, and that was neither good nor bad. He certainly wasn't enjoying any of the benefits of the marriage bed, but then he wasn't in any hurry to get to that point, either; and while Ka-hai had moved into his quarters and was basically everywhere when he turned around at home, she was careful not to crowd him and actually didn't demand any of his attention.  
  
(There had been one disturbance, though — recently, Ka-hai's father sent her a half-wild horse along with the last of her belongings. On Jae-shin's last day off, she seemed to have spent all her time with it and it seemed a little irresponsible to him, but since meals were still served regularly, he hadn't run out of clean clothes and he didn't have to share his room with the animal as well as his wife, he supposed that he didn't really have grounds for complaint.)  
  
"She's cluttered my room with all her things," he added with a small chuckle, "but at least she bathes regularly."  
  
"And how about you?" In-soo snickered. "Maybe the reason why your married life is just 'all right' is because you don't clean up more often?"  
  
"At least _someone_ agreed to marry me," Jae-shin retorted.  
  
Professor Jung chuckled. "Well, as your teacher and friend, I wish I could offer you some helpful advice," he said, "but I'm afraid marriage is one subject I know nothing about."

* * *

While Jae-shin and In-soo visited their old teacher at Sungkyunkwan, Ka-hai went shopping in town accompanied by her maid Kwan-sook, and Kwan-sook's son, Sang-hun, who now worked at the Moons' as a kitchen boy. The eight-year-old's eyes were wide as they walked through the bustling streets. He had spent all his life on the Cha estate out in the country, and had never seen so many kinds of people and things all together at the same time.  
  
"Do you see anything you like yet, my lady?" Kwan-sook asked.  
  
"No," Ka-hai replied irritably. She could understand why Sang-hun was so fascinated by the city, but all she could think about were the crowds, everything she needed to do at home and all those annoying blue papers that persisted in sticking to her shoes. "Why don't we just go home?"  
  
"We're not going home until you've bought something nice— _for yourself_ ," the maid told her, tacking on the last bit before her mistress could offer to buy the sweets that Sang-hun had been eyeing. "You've been shut up in the house ever since you got married."  
  
"I've been busy observing how things are done there," she explained. "If I don't know what's being done wrong or right, how will I know what improvements I need to make in the running of the household? Besides, I need to exercise Chul-moo today." Chul-moo was the name of the colt her father had sent her.  
  
"All of that can wait," Kwan-sook said impatiently. "It's about time you enjoyed some of your money and the town is practically at your doorstep! You should take advantage of it, my lady!"  
  
Sighing, Ka-hai stopped at a shop selling ladies' accessories and obligingly inspected the wares. A fan stayed her hand just as she was reaching for a bright yellow hair ribbon. "I wouldn't recommend that one with your coloring, my lady," a voice said.  
  
Both fan and voice belonged to a handsome, flamboyantly dressed young man standing at her side. "Hello," he greeted her with a charming smile. "Do you remember me?"  
  
Ka-hai nodded and smiled back politely. "You're one of my husband's friends. I remember meeting you at the wedding," she admitted, "but I'm sorry, I can't remember your name right now."  
  
"I'm Gu Yong-ha," he supplied. "I went to school with Geol—I mean, Jae-shin."  
  
"Right. I beg your pardon for not remembering. I was... very preoccupied that day."  
  
He laughed. "I'm sure you were," he said easily. "It was a very big day for the both of you. Congratulations again, by the way. How long has it been now... a month, right? So, do you already know whether I am going to have a nephew anytime soon?"  
  
She stiffened even as she blushed to the roots of her hair. Not only it hardly appropriate to discuss the intimate details of her marriage (however little there were) with a virtual stranger, but she was sick and tired of being asked whether she was breeding already, especially after being married for such a short time. All her mother could talk about during her first visit home as a married woman were grandchildren that didn't exist yet, and Kwan-sook had been going around looking worried ever since the onset of Ka-hai's menstrual period last week.  
  
"I'm afraid we're all going to have to wait a little while longer to find out," she answered frostily. "If there is nothing else, then please excuse me. I would like to continue with my shopping."  
  
"No! Wait! Please!" Yong-ha darted after her, pleading earnestly. "Please forgive me, my lady, for speaking so directly. I do that with all my friends, and since you're married to one of them, that makes you my friend, too, right? You must take some tea with me and allow me to beg your forgiveness. I won't be able to live with myself if we parted like this."  
  
At this point, Ka-hai wanted nothing more than to be done with this pointless shopping trip, but he sounded so contrite and, from what she had observed at the wedding, he _was_ one of Jae-shin's best friends, so she reluctantly agreed.  
  
They took tea in the back room of a women's clothing shop next door, sitting surrounded by bolts of sumptuous fabrics while a servant brought tea and snacks. After making sure that Kwan-sook and Sang-hun were provided for, Ka-hai turned back to the young man sitting across the low table from her. "You own this shop?" she asked.  
  
"Every blessed inch," Yong-ha replied, surveying his domain proudly.  
  
"But I thought you were a yangban." His clothes were certainly rich enough.  
  
"Don't we all wish we were," he said, toying with his fan. "Sadly, I'm not. I'm just a humble shopkeeper who can afford to dress the part. And I truly am sorry about my crude remark earlier," he added earnestly. "It wasn't my intention to offend you."  
  
"I know that it wasn't," she said. "I reacted badly. I'm sorry, too."  
  
"Well, I shouldn't have asked you about _that_." Yong-ha sighed in despair. "I forgot that Moon Jae-shin wouldn't know what to do with a wife when he got one."  
  
"It's nice to know that there's at least one person out there who doesn't think that this is all my fault," Ka-hai said, laughing in spite of herself and shooting her maid a sidelong glance.  
  
"My dear — I _can_ call you that, can't I? — your husband and I have been friends for well over half our lives. I know what he's like around women."  
  
"Has he been around many?" she couldn't help asking. She didn't want to sound like she was jealous (because she wasn't), but as his wife, she had a right to know, didn't she?  
  
"Not that many," he assured her, smiling and patting her arm, "and not by choice. But on those rare occasions, I learned that while my friend is a brilliant man, he's the type who needs to be helped along a bit. All right, a lot," he amended. "Fortunately for you, I'm an expert on such matters."  
  
She frowned. "What does that have to do with me?" she asked blankly.  
  
"Are you _serious_?" Yong-ha exclaimed in disbelief. "I'm offering to help you help Jae-shin get over his shyness with women. As his wife, you stand to directly benefit." He gave another despairing sigh. "Don't tell me you're one of those women who doesn't know what to do with a husband!"  
  
"If I am," Ka-hai said with a dry smile, "then I suppose that makes me well-suited to a man who doesn't know what to do with a wife."  
  
"And a fat lot of good that does the both of you!" He took a deep breath. "Never mind that," he went on in a calmer tone of voice. "Just put yourself in my hands, and we'll have your husband at your feet in no time."  
  
She made a face. "I don't think I need him underfoot all the time."  
  
"You know what I mean."

* * *

The Blue Messenger's last leaflet made a reference to yangbans who didn't do enough to uphold the rights of tenant farmers. Although this was the new Joseon, there were still a number of possible targets, which meant the police force was split up to keep watch over the homes of several powerful landowners, including the Minister of Agriculture.  
  
Jae-shin, along with In-soo and others, was assigned to patrol the Minister's house, and he was once again lounging on a rooftop when the Blue Messenger arrived one night to wreak havoc. "You still need to tone down the hysteria," he told her, holding out another marked-up leaflet. "Your subtlety is improving, though. At least, you didn't pinpoint exactly where you were going to go this time."  
  
"Glad to know I'm getting _something_ right," she said, coming near to take it from him.  
  
He smirked. "We'll make you worthy of arrest yet."  
  
"You mean you're going to let me go free again?"  
  
"Going through all that red tape for writing like _that_ —" he looked derisively at the paper in her hand "—isn't worth it." He waved her off. "Go scatter your messages. Hopefully they're better than this last one."  
  
However, the Messenger didn't move. Instead, she said, "Congratulations on your marriage."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Is she pretty?"  
  
Jae-shin shrugged. "I guess."  
  
"Words to warm a girl's heart," she said dryly.  
  
"I'm not saying she's ugly," he explained. "She just doesn't look like the girls that other people say are pretty. But..." His voice trailed off as he thought back to the morning after their wedding. "I suppose she's pretty in her own way."  
  
She nodded approvingly. "That's better."  
  
He scowled. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"Hey, if you can criticize my writing," she told him, turning to leave, "I can criticize the way you talk about your wife. Trust me, you'll thank me for it later."

* * *

Since her husband was on duty, it was just Ka-hai and her father-in-law at dinner that night. "He's working on an important case," Minister Moon explained. "It's keeping him very busy."  
  
"Does he work on many important cases?" she asked.  
  
"Yes. Jae-shin is a very smart boy — I suppose he should be, after all the time he spent at school," he added dryly. "It's a shame, though, that his work is causing him to neglect his new bride."  
  
Ka-hai smiled indulgently. Here was another person who was obsessed with whether or not she was breeding, but she reminded herself to keep her patience because not only was her father-in-law kind to her, but the man also had good reason to be interested. "Please don't fret, Abeonim," she assured him sweetly. "We must be supportive if Jae-shin is going to advance in his career.  
  
"Besides," she added, "there's no need to worry about me being bored. I have plenty to keep me busy here at home. I'm still learning everything about how you like the house to be run and trying to figure out where I might make things better."  
  
"Well, you're doing a marvelous job so far," her father-in-law praised her. "I'm often busy so I hardly ever notice these things anymore, but I think that tonight's dinner is the best I've had in this house in years."  
  
She smiled. "I'm very glad you're enjoying it, but the credit should go to Master Jeung, the cook. If you don't mind, could I send for him so that he can hear it from you himself?"  
  
Minister Moon agreed, and the cook was summoned from the kitchen. "Is anything wrong with the food, my lord?" the red-faced, sweating man asked as he stepped hesitantly into the dining room.  
  
"Not at all," his employer assured him, smiling. "I just wanted to tell you that this was a very fine meal, possibly the best you've produced in years."  
  
Master Jeung smiled, clearly relieved as well as pleased. "It's my honor to cook for your house, my lord," he replied, bowing so low that Ka-hai thought he was going to pitch forward into Minister Moon's lap.  
  
"Thank you for indulging me, Abeonim," Ka-hai said when the highly gratified man had departed. "The staff in your household is very well-trained—"  
  
"It's _your_ household now, my dear," he corrected her gently.  
  
Blushing, she nodded. "Our staff is very well-trained," she repeated dutifully, "but I think it's very important for them to know that we appreciate their efforts. It keeps them motivated to do their work well."  
  
Her father-in-law nodded approvingly. "See, we definitely need someone like you around the house to point out these things," he said, and beamed. "It's so nice to have a woman's touch in the house again."

* * *

Jae-shin finally came home after Ka-hai had already retired for the night. She was sitting at a low table in their bedroom, going over the household accounts, when the door opened and he entered. "I'm home," he said quietly, to alert her to his presence.  
  
She looked up and gave him a polite nod. "Good evening, Jae-shin. Have you eaten? I can ask someone to get you some food."  
  
He undid his topknot, which she noticed was the first thing he always did when he got home, before answering. "Don't trouble yourself; besides, the servants might already be in bed. I'll get myself something to eat."  
  
It turned out, though, that one servant was still awake, because Kwan-sook hurried inside after Jae-shin had gone in order to prepare her mistress for bed. "Why don't you sleep with your hair loose tonight, my lady?" the maid suggested as she ran a comb through said hair, which had just dried from Ka-hai's bath. "Who knows, it just might catch the young lord's eye...?"  
  
Ka-hai blushed. As much as she liked having her hair loose instead of being confined in a braid all the time, she didn't want to leave it down for _that_ reason. "If I do, then it will be all tangled in the morning and I'll never hear the end of it from you. Just braid it, please."  
  
Grumbling, Kwan-sook did as she was bid, but got her revenge by dabbing some perfume (which hadn't been expressly forbidden) on her mistress' neck. "You're ready for bed, my lady," she chirped as Ka-hai's husband returned, and smiled sweetly at him. "Good night, my lord."  
  
"Good night," he replied politely. Giving her mistress a warning look from behind him, the maid bowed herself out of the room.  
  
A heavy silence fell as the door closed. "Are the numbers adding up?" Jae-shin asked conversationally. Hearing the pad of his bare feet across the floor, she glanced up to see her husband fetch a book and sit down near her so that he could read by the light of the candle she was using.  
  
Ka-hai made an affirmative noise as she ran a finger down a row of figures. It was easy to understand where the household's funds were being spent and there didn't seem to be any pilferage, but she needed to consult with the steward and the cook about certain ideas she had to save money. She hoped she didn't forget them; sharing a bedroom with another person was proving to be quite distracting, especially if that person sometimes snored at night and otherwise just seemed to take up so much space that she couldn't help but be conscious of his presence.  
  
"How was your day?" she asked him.  
  
"Uneventful," he replied, which was the answer he always gave. "Yours?"  
  
"I inspected bed linens today," she said, like a child recounting a particularly exciting lesson at school. Taking inventory was not her favorite thing to do, unless she was counting horses, so she couldn't help poking a little fun at it. She hoped she didn't sound like she was complaining, though.  
  
Jae-shin chuckled. "Abeonim tells me you've been inspecting the house from top to bottom," he said. "Have you seen anything you want to change? Not that I'm planning to interfere, of course," he added. "I'm just curious." He was curious because frankly, he hadn't seen any changes being made at all.  
  
"Oh, I'm still thinking about them," his wife replied. "It's not as easy as telling the servants to do this and that differently, you know."  
  
"I see," he said, even though he didn't, not really. If there was something you wanted done differently, you just told the servants to do it that way. What in the world was she talking about?  
  
The rest of the night passed in silence. Ka-hai finished her accounting and, apart from wishing her husband good night, wordlessly went to bed. Some time later, Jae-shin lay down as well, keeping his back to her just as she was doing to him.  
  
As Ka-hai drifted off to sleep, she wondered just how Gu Yong-ha was going to help improve her marriage when her husband was clearly married, first and foremost, to his work.


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter Five_

Jae-shin supposed that his idle question had stirred his wife into action, because not long after he asked, Ka-hai implemented a comprehensive set of changes in the household. 

She didn't issue a blanket order changing everything all at once, either. Like a general heading into battle, her plan was enacted in phases. "It's confusing if you try to get it all done at the same time," Ka-hai explained to him one night as she drew up a list of tasks that would make up the second phase of her plan. "Besides, some of these changes build on each other. Some have to be in place before the others can follow."

He had raised his eyebrows and said nothing. Apparently, there was more to getting things done differently than just giving orders, and he had to admit that this approach was much more organized than what he had initially imagined.

Certain changes were good, such as the fact that Jae-shin never ran out of shaving soap and he now had a lunchbox to take to work every day. (He didn't shave often and there were times when he had to give the food away rather than eat it himself, but it was nice to have those needs anticipated.) Others, like discovering his name embroidered neatly on all his underclothes, were baffling.

And then there was The Bathing Edict.

"You want me to _WHAT_?!" he demanded one night. He was home in time, for once, to dine with his father and wife, and the meal had gone pleasantly until the lady of the house informed her husband of the things that he could not and was expected to do under her household improvement plan.

"I want you to wash up before going to bed," she repeated serenely.

"I already do that in the morning, before going to work."

"You don't have to do it twice a day," she assured him. "Just at night, after you get home."

"It's my habit to do it in the morning," he told her, just managing to keep from glowering at her. "I don't see the point of changing."

"Cleaning yourself in the evening means that you don't go to bed dirty," Minister Moon pointed out helpfully. "Besides, I find it very relaxing after a hard day's work."

"Abeonim is right, my lord." Ka-hai beamed at her father-in-law before turning back to her husband. She looked like she was enjoying this far too much. "Besides, I think it's only fair to consider the person with whom you are sharing a room. I always wash after working with the horses so that I don't come to bed stinking of the stables. Surely you could do me the courtesy of doing the same after you come home so that you don't smell of the streets?"

"Well, if I offend you so much, why don't you just sleep somewhere else?" Jae-shin blurted out. And why was she complaining about this _now_ , after sleeping next to him for over a month?

"I'd rather not give the servants another room to clean," she told him. "They already have enough to do around the house. However," she added in a conciliatory tone, "I suppose I _could_ consider it, if you feel that strongly about bathing in the evening. After all, I wouldn't want to put you out."

* * *

"So will you do it, sa-hyung?" Sun-joon asked.

"Do I have a choice?" Jae-shin growled as he loosed an arrow. It hurtled into the bull's eye as though sent there by the force of his will, not his excellent aim.

He knew that he should be enjoying his day off because he was spending it practicing archery with the Jalgeum Quartet on the Sungkyunkwan campus, which was practically deserted because the students were on break; however, his wife's caprices and his father's blind support of the same had effectively soured his mood.

"Your wife _did_ offer to move out of your room if you really wanted to stick to your old routine," Yong-ha reminded him. Although he was at the archery range with his fancy Chin bow, he was, as usual, not actually shooting any arrows.

Jae-shin grunted. "Of course I'm going to do it," he said. "She did have a point about sparing the servants any extra work, and I can just imagine my father's reaction if she moved." 

Although he and Minister Moon had reconciled years before, the peace they had achieved still felt much too fragile when compared to the decade of estrangement preceding it. Jae-shin caused his father enough worry, first from his activities as the Red Messenger and now due to his work as a police officer, and didn't want him to fret about his marriage, too. Of course, Minister Moon had the same chances of getting a grandchild (zero) whether or not husband and wife slept in the same room, but he didn't have to know that.

Yoon-hee nodded approvingly. "It was wise of you to give in, sa-hyung," she said. "It's just a small adjustment that you need to make, nothing to make a big fuss about."

"Actually, it _is_ kind of important," he said. "Washing in the morning means that I do well at inspection at work."

"Well, your commander doesn't have to sleep next to you."

"That's exactly what Ka-hai said." He should have known that women would stick together on this issue.

Sun-joon grinned as he notched an arrow. "On the contrary, I think it's sa-hyung's _real_ commander who sleeps next to him."

"Do you speak from experience, Ga-rang?" Yong-ha teased.

"Of course he does!" his wife answered for him.

Jae-shin shook his head, too annoyed to join in his friends' playful banter, and launched another arrow. Now that he thought about it, this was the second time his wife had turned around and surprised him. "It's the brood mares all over again," he muttered.

"What was that?" Yong-ha asked.

"Nothing."

* * *

Ka-hai was glad that her husband had given way on her rule about bathing in the evening. As expected, the new policy kept the bed cleaner and reduced some of the trouble of carrying the heavy wooden bathtub and heating water. Maybe it didn't matter much to him, but she was certain that it did to the servants who had to do the work.

There was, however, one drawback, and she discovered this the hard way one night, when she entered their bedroom to prepare for her bath. She was getting fresh clothes from a chest in the corner when Jae-shin emerged from behind the screen that had been set up in front of the bathtub, wrapping a towel around his waist.

"Omo!" Ka-hai exclaimed, dropping the stack of underclothes she was holding. (Fortunately, the towel stayed put.) Her face grew hot as her eyes skittered frantically over his bare torso. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know you were back there."

Jae-shin couldn't help smirking as he watched her fall to her knees to gather up the clothes scattered at their feet. It was refreshing to see _her_ unnerved for a change. "You should have," he told her, a trifle smugly. "After all, it was you who required me to bathe at night."

He must have sounded a bit too smug, because at that, his wife's shoulders squared and she sprang to her feet. "My apologies, my lord," she replied. "You're absolutely right. It was wrong of me to think that you were anything other than a kind husband, doing his best to accede to his wife's wishes."

Ka-hai was glad to hear herself speak calmly despite the awkwardness of the situation. _This is nothing to get flustered over,_ she told herself. _You've seen guys without shirts on before. Of course, they were your brothers, and they had been babies, but that still counts!_

"I accept your apologies, my lady," he said easily. Her husband was clearly enjoying her discomfiture because he was grinning, teeth white against the swarthiness of his skin. (Why was the rest of him as tanned as his face? _Don't think about that!_ ) "I'm pleased that you recognize my efforts to support you in your running of the household."

She nodded and, despite her best efforts, her eyes drifted downward. Then her jaw dropped. "What happened here?"

Before he knew what she was doing, she was running a finger down the long scar that slashed down his chest. Jae-shin shivered and took a step backwards, hunching his shoulders to avoid her touch. "Nothing," he hiccuped. If he wasn't mistaken, this was the first time she had ever consciously touched him.

"You look like you were in a knife fight... and you lost."

"Obviously, I didn't," he insisted, avoiding her eyes. "Don't worry about it, it's just an old wound."

"Does it still pain you?"

"No, it's fine. Everything's fine." Ka-hai was staring, and though she was more concerned than anything else, it still made him uncomfortable and he groped desperately for a way out. "May I get dressed now? I'll catch a cold standing around like this."

To his relief, that caused her to look away from him again, her cheeks turning pink. "Of course. I'll leave you alone to do that. Would you... would you mind letting me know when you're done so that I might take my turn?"

That, of course, led Jae-shin to picture her at her bath, and him walking in on her, and a number of other things that he wasn't quite ready to think about just yet. "I'll do that," he promised, hiccuping and edging back behind the screen.

"Thank you." She paused awkwardly, as though she had forgotten that she was going to leave, then tossed her clothes onto a low table and quit the room.

Thus they parted, both wondering who between them was more shaken by the encounter.

* * *

Ka-hai was still recovering from the embarrassment a day or so later. It wasn't so bad because Jae-shin wasn't gloating about it as much as she thought he would, but at the same time, it was proving very difficult to wipe the sight of him wearing nothing but a towel and a grin from her memory.

Although her upbringing was somewhat less restricted compared to most other girls of her class, her parents still insisted that the rules of modesty be observed; and she and her brothers had been careful to always be decent around each other ever since they were old enough to understand the differences between boys and girls. The incident from the other night should serve as a reminder that such rules didn't always apply between husband and wife, which meant that she had to brace herself for the possibility that it could happen again in the future.

 _Stop thinking about that!_ She shook her head in yet another attempt to clear it as she walked to the stables after dinner. _The colt. Think of the colt._

Fortunately, the prospect of visiting Chul-moo provided a much-needed distraction, because the chestnut had finally accepted her. Ka-hai wasn't really surprised, because in her family it was she who had a way with horses, but every time it happened was special. It was like making a new friend.

He caught her scent as she approached his stall. "Hello, Chul-moo," she greeted him quietly, smiling as he whickered in reply and stepped closer to have his nose rubbed. "I just came to give you a little evening snack."

She held out the apple that she had managed to wheedle from the kitchen, and he gobbled it down quickly. "Sorry, but that's all you're getting tonight," Ka-hai told Chul-moo when he finished devouring the treat and nuzzled her hand, looking for more. 

Undeterred, he tried her other hand.

"No," she said firmly, holding it behind her back. "That's medicine and it's not going to agree with you."

The colt snorted, sounding exasperated. 

She laughed indulgently and patted his nose again. "If you're good, I'll give you something else tomorrow. But now, you have to go to sleep."

The medicine was for Sang-hun, who had complained all day of a stomach ache. Based on what he and his mother could tell her, Ka-hai believed it was upset because of something he had eaten, so she was bringing him something that would help settle his stomach while they waited for him to pass the bad food.

After washing her hand in the horse trough, she made her way to the servants' quarters and was just about to knock at Kwan-sook's door when she heard a man's voice coming from within. "You shouldn't stuff yourself when you eat, or else it'll become a habit."

"But I didn't do that, my lord," Sang-hun protested in his piping voice.

Outside, Ka-hai frowned. _My lord?_ She opened the door a crack and peeked inside to see Jae-shin sitting at the boy's bedside. Kwan-sook sat in one corner of the room. "You should still be careful about what you put in your mouth," he was saying. "You might be eating something unhealthy and you just don't know it."

The boy nodded, looking up at him worshipfully. "I'll be more careful next time."

"Good." Her husband smiled and ruffled Sang-hun's hair. "Now, get some rest. I'm sure you'll feel much better tomorrow."

Ka-hai retreated into the shadows as he got up to leave, and she didn't emerge until after he had left Kwan-sook and Sang-hun's quarters and gone back into the main house. "Did I just see my husband come out of here?" she asked as she entered the room.

"Yes, my lady," Sang-hun replied. "The young lord came to see me."

"He said he heard that Sang-hun was sick," Kwan-sook explained earnestly, "and he came by. It's the first time he's been here, my lady, and he only stayed a short while." 

"It's all right, Kwan-sook," Ka-hai assured her. She knew her maid better than she did her husband, so she was confident that Kwan-sook would never fool around with Jae-shin. Kwan-sook was too devoted to raising her son and running her mistress' life. Besides, if Yong-ha was correct, Jae-shin was also apparently too dense to be seduced, just like that.

She blushed and, willing herself stop thinking such thoughts, pasted a bright smile on her face. "It was nice of him to come and visit, wasn't it?"

* * *

They all agreed that it had indeed been very nice, and Ka-hai couldn't help smiling on the way back to the house. She had known from the very beginning that her husband was a decent man, and seen that he could be reasonable; but now she knew that he could be kind as well.

( _And he didn't look too bad without any clothes on,_ said a little voice in her head.)

She and Kwan-sook spent quite a bit of time getting Sang-hun to take the medicine — which was understandable, because it tasted awful — so Jae-shin was already asleep when she entered their bedroom. Ka-hai couldn't see his face in the dim candlelight, but it was easy enough to recognize him because he slept, as always, with his hair loose, feet bare, and stretched out on top of his blanket.

It was hard to believe that he slept in such an unbridled manner. As she removed her outer garments to prepare for bed, she found herself wondering once again whether the real Moon Jae-shin was the dutiful son and straitlaced police officer, or the man who growled about following rules, whether hers or the rules of etiquette.

After washing her hands and face, Ka-hai blew out the candle and lay down beside her husband. Moments later, he turned in his sleep and draped an arm over her. Ordinarily, she would have stiffened and pushed it away, but tonight she was still thinking about what she had witnessed in the servants' quarters, so she stayed still and tried to accustom herself to being held by a man.

She wondered whether Jae-shin would be as kind to their own children as he had been to Sang-hun. Perhaps she was getting a little ahead of herself, thinking about children when they hadn't even done anything to even have a chance of having any yet, but they were married, weren't they? It was going to have to happen sometime, she thought, blushing.

Then he rolled over again and kicked her. Scowling, Ka-hai kicked him back and turned away from him in a huff. Perhaps it was going to happen sometime, but definitely not tonight.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Technical Notes:** I still can't think of a reasonable explanation for why Yoon-hee was still called "Yoon-shik" in the canon epilogue despite being outed as a woman to the king. I'm assuming everyone knows, including the SKK Headmaster (as clueless as the man can be sometimes), so I just pulled a ~~cop-out~~ possible explanation out of thin air. Let's all just roll with it, OK?
> 
> _EDIT 02-07-2016: It has come to my attention that Bok-soo (and Bok-dong) wouldn't be entitled to a family name due to their low social standing, so I've corrected that inaccuracy._

_Chapter Six_  
  
"P-Professor Kim? You have a visitor."  
  
Yoon-hee, who had been taking a stroll through the Sungkyunkwan campus, turned to the small crowd of eager boys that had come up behind her. "I do? Who is it?"  
  
"It's a lady!" came the reply from somewhere within the group. "She says she knows you."  
  
"Where is she?"  
  
"Right here with me, Professor!" said another voice from the back.  
  
She favored them with the twinkling smile that was part of the reason why she was the most popular professor among Sungkyunkwan's male student body. "Well, thank you all very much for escorting our guest here, scholars," she said politely. "Would you mind leaving me and my guest so that we can talk in private?"  
  
"Right away, Professor! You're welcome, Professor!"  
  
The crowd melted away, leaving Ka-hai standing on the path. She gave a small smile when she saw the other woman before her. "I was confused when the guards told me to look for Professor Kim Yoon-shik," she admitted, "but when all those boys volunteered to help me find you, it was obvious that I was being directed to the right person."  
  
Yoon-hee laughed. "Yoon-shik is my brother's name," she explained. "I officially registered at Sungkyunkwan pretending to be him, so even now that I'm allowed to teach as myself, I'm still listed in the records under his name."  
  
"They couldn't change it?"  
  
She shrugged. "I think they told me the records were sacred or something like that," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Anyway, it doesn't matter what name I use. The important thing is that I'm able to work."  
  
The taller woman nodded understandingly, then supposed she had to re-introduce herself. "I'm Cha Ka-hai," she went on with a small bow of greeting. "I'm not sure if you remember, but we were introduced at my wedding."  
  
"Yes, I remember," the professor replied, returning the bow. "How may I help you, Lady Cha?"  
  
"Please call me Ka-hai," she answered, coloring a bit. Although she was a yangban, there hadn't been many occasions for her to be called "Lady."  
  
"Of course," she said easily. "And you must call me Yoon-hee. How may I help you, Ka-hai?" she asked again.  
  
"This may sound like a strange request," she began hesitantly, "but I was wondering if I could borrow some books from the university library."  
  
"Books?"  
  
Ka-hai nodded, her cheeks turning pink. "This might sound silly, but... you see, my husband is always reading. I'm not much for reading myself," she admitted, "but I think that it would be good if I understood him a little more — not that we're fighting or anything like that," she added hastily. "Anyway, I thought that one way to do that is to read some of the books that he has read."  
  
Gu Yong-ha had worked quickly and his contribution to helping improve her and Jae-shin's marriage had already arrived: new garments in colors that, according to him, would better showcase her complexion and figure, and underthings so thin that they had Kwan-sook giggling and wiggling her eyebrows meaningfully. Ka-hai still didn't quite have the nerve to parade around in her new finery in order to catch her husband's attention, but she realized that there was at least one other thing she could do to reach out to him, at least as a friend.  
  
Now that she had said her idea out loud, though, it sounded silly and she was afraid that the other woman would laugh at her. However, all that Yoon-hee did was smile warmly. "I think it's wonderful that you want to make such an effort for him," she said.  
  
Still blushing, she mumbled her thanks.  
  
"I'm afraid you're going to have quite the task ahead of you, though, because I know for a fact that your husband has read every book in the library."  
  
"Of course he would make things difficult for me," Ka-hai sighed, rolling her eyes.  
  
The professor laughed. "Perhaps you can take it area by area? The library covers a lot of subjects: philosophy, political science, medicine—"  
  
"Medicine?" she repeated. "That sounds good. I'd like to read about that."  
  
"I've done a bit of reading on the subject myself, so I know that it can be very... weighty," Yoon-hee warned gently. "You aren't taking on all of that just for your husband, are you?"  
  
"What? Oh, no." The taller woman blushed again. "I mean, I _did_ say that I wanted to understand him better, but I picked medicine because it interests me personally. I'm quite good at doctoring animals," she said with a self-conscious laugh, "and I think I'd like to learn more about curing people. I'm sure I'll enjoy this task more if I started with something that I really wanted to learn for myself."  
  
"I think so, too." Yoon-hee smiled. "I'd be happy to check out some books for you, Ka-hai. I'll try to have some sent over as soon as possible."  
  
"There's no hurry if you're busy," she replied. "But I appreciate all your help."  
  
"You're married to a friend of mine. It would be best if we were friends, too, right?"  
  
Ka-hai smiled shyly. She remembered Yong-ha saying essentially the same thing, but this was different. Apart from her maid, who was a bit of a special case she was a servant, she hadn't had many female friends, and none at all nearby since the last one married and moved away.  
  
"Yes," she agreed, "it definitely would."

* * *

A few days after Ka-hai went there, it was her husband's turn to visit the Sungkyunkwan campus. Professor Jung had sent word that the faculty was finished verifying whether or not the Blue Messenger was a student at the university, so Jae-shin and In-soo came over right away.  
  
Unfortunately, the results of the investigation were negative. "I'm sorry," he said, "but there's no indication that the Blue Messenger is a Sungkyunkwan scholar. Professor Yoo and I have compared the writing on the leaflet with samples from every registered student, and the penmanship and writing style do not match with any of them."  
  
Jae-shin felt himself deflate. "What a shame," In-soo said, visibly disappointed. "And to think this was our biggest lead yet."  
  
Professor Jung gave them a small smile. "I hope you don't mind, Officers, if we on the Sungkyunkwan faculty are relieved that the Blue Messenger isn't one of the scholars. I don't think we would ever want to admit that we have a student who writes this poorly."  
  
"I told you it was terrible," Jae-shin gloated to his partner. The other man had needled him endlessly about criticizing the quality of the Blue Messenger's writing. It was nice to get some vindication.  
  
"I already knew that," In-soo retorted. "I was a student myself, you know. And I don't know why you're so pleased — this means we're no closer to finding the Blue Messenger than when we were first assigned to this case."  
  
"That's not completely true," Professor Jung reminded them. "Even though the Messenger is not a Sungkyunkwan scholar, there's still a very strong possibility that she is a woman. In fact, the brushstrokes appear more consistent with the writing of our female students than the male."  
  
"All right, so we're looking for a woman who is fairly educated and skilled with a bow and arrow, and who owns dark men's clothing," Jae-shin concluded, ticking off the clues on his fingers.  
  
"Should be easy to find," In-soo said sarcastically.

* * *

The blow to the investigation weighed very heavily on Jae-shin's mind, and he spent the rest of the day wondering how they might be able to build on the little progress that they had managed to make. Where would you find a reasonably educated woman in the area, other than at Sungkyunkwan University?  
  
He was still caught up in thinking of possible places even after he got home that he failed to notice certain other things that required his attention.  
  
"If I may be so bold, my dear," Minister Moon said loudly, "you look particularly lovely tonight."  
  
"Thank you, Abeonim," Ka-hai replied with a shy smile.  
  
"Are those new clothes?"  
  
"Yes." She smoothed her pale green skirt self-consciously. Yong-ha had given her a friendly discount on the clothes (in fact, he would have given them to her for free if she hadn't insisted on paying), but of course her father-in-law wouldn't know that, and she didn't want him to think that she was wasting her money on frivolities.  
  
"Very nice. I know that you work very hard, so it's good to see you enjoying nice things for once."  
  
"Thank you, Abeonim," she repeated, stealing a glance at her husband as she returned to her dinner.  
  
Jae-shin had said very little throughout the meal, and certainly nothing at all about how she looked; and to her mortification, her father-in-law had noticed. "Doesn't your wife look lovely, Jae-shin?" Minister Moon asked loudly, all but physically prodding his son to pay his wife a compliment.  
  
"Hmm? Oh. Yes," he agreed, then went back to eating with a distracted air.  
  
Her husband had barely looked at her, but Ka-hai inclined her head graciously. "Thank you, my lord."  
  
Minister Moon gave her an apologetic look, but she replied with a smile and a little shake of her head that she hoped made her look patient and understanding.  
  
She wasn't angry. The extra effort she had expended to dress for dinner — she had just bathed early, spent some time choosing her clothes instead of tossing on the first ones that came to hand, and had Kwan-sook rearrange her hair — hadn't been all that much. Besides, it hadn't been in vain: Ka-hai and her maid agreed that she looked very fine in her new things, and she trusted that her father-in-law's compliments were genuine. It was just embarrassing how Minister Moon seemed to understand that she was trying to make herself pretty for her husband, and that the target of her efforts obviously did not notice, let alone appreciate, them.  
  
Ka-hai finished the rest of her dinner quickly and withdrew. "If you will excuse me," she said, addressing mainly her father-in-law because Jae-shin remained huddled over his rice bowl, "I... have some things to attend to."  
  
"Of course." Minister Moon nodded and, when she was gone, sent his son a withering stare. "Would it have killed you to take your mind off your work and pay some attention to your wife for just one moment, Jae-shin?"  
  
Jae-shin looked up, confused. "Did she need anything?" He hadn't heard any screaming and no one was running around in panic, so everything was all right, wasn't it?  
  
"She was trying to get you to notice her," his father pointed out with a long-suffering sigh.  
  
"What for?"  
  
"Ka-hai was wearing new clothes, boy!" Minister Moon burst out, his jowls quivering. "You could have at least told her she looked nice or something."  
  
"Our biggest lead in the Blue Messenger case just went cold, and I'm supposed to notice her clothes?"  
  
"Keeping the peace in Joseon begins at home," the older man explained testily. "If you don't want to turn this house into a battle ground, then I strongly recommend that you go to your wife and try to do some damage control."  
  
Scowling, Jae-shin he took a large gulp of wine straight from the bottle, just to be annoying, and got to his feet. This was why women gave him the hiccups, he thought irritably as he stalked out of the dining room. They became irrational over the silliest things. He had begun to think that his wife was different from most other women, but it turned out that even she was prone to this condition.  
  
A passing servant told him that Ka-hai had gone to their bedroom, so he went off in that direction. In his defense, he had prepared himself to make up a flowery compliment in order to appease her feminine caprices, but when he entered the chamber, he found that there was nothing left to compliment.  
  
She froze in the middle of removing her overskirt and glared at him in maidenly outrage. "Do you mind?!"  
  
Jae-shin shut the door quickly, his carefully prepared speech swept clean out of his head. "A-Abeonim said there was something you needed me to do," he managed to say.  
  
"What I need you to do," she said curtly, tugging off the garment and striding in her underclothes towards the chest where she kept her things, "is to leave so that I can finish changing in peace."  
  
A hiccup escaped him as he looked away. "You didn't have to change," he told her lamely. "Your clothes... looked very nice."  
  
There was a loud rustle of fabric, as though she had shaken out something a little more violently than was necessary. "Thank you for noticing," she replied crisply, "but actually, I do need to change. If you had been listening at dinner earlier, you would know that one of the horses went lame today and I need to go and check on it. I suppose I could look 'very nice' to do that, but I doubt that the horse would care. Now, if you don't mind," she concluded, "please go away."  
  
Although it had been his room first and he was perfectly entitled to stay, Jae-shin fled.  
  
He made his way to the garden on one side of the house. He remembered telling Ka-hai about this place, but he didn't know whether she came here to reminisce about growing up in the country. It had been a while since he visited this place himself.  
  
Though the garden featured a small pavilion in which one could sit, read or enjoy the view, he bypassed that in favor of a large, irregularly-shaped rock under a pear tree. Said rock featured a flat spot that held him quite comfortably, and Moon Young-shin's name chiseled down the front. He had done it himself a few years after his older brother died. Young-shin had his own memorial in the family's ancestral shrine, but this was where Jae-shin chose to remember him.  
  
"What must you think of me now, hyung?" he murmured, reaching down to rub his fingers over the carving.  
  
He had been too young to notice whether Young-shin had ever had a sweetheart, but his brother had been so good-natured and charming that it was impossible to imagine him not being popular with the ladies. In contrast, Jae-shin couldn't even look at a woman without suffering a nervous hiccup attack.  
  
He was sure that if Young-shin were here, he would have laughed and ruffled his younger brother's hair fondly, and then he would have helped him figure out how to make amends with Ka-hai. That was what he had always done when Jae-shin came to him with a problem.  
  
He hiccuped again as this particular problem crossed his mind wearing nothing but her undergarments. His wife had been covered from neck to toes, but the cloth was so thin that it bordered on indecent. He hadn't looked at her all that long, but it had been enough to catch a glimpse of the slender length of her limbs, and of skin gleaming golden in the candlelight.  
  
_If she was going to spend money on clothes, couldn't she have bought herself new underwear, too?_  
  
Jae-shin shook his head to clear it. He didn't know whether Young-shin, wherever he was, could read his thoughts; but just in case he could, he didn't need his brother finding out what Ka-hai looked like in her underwear.

* * *

The only good thing to come out of that night's debacle was that Jae-shin came up with the idea to ask the ban-in, the residents of Banchon, about the Blue Messenger. Although Banchon was one of the poorest areas in the city, it was right on Sungkyunkwan's doorstep; there was always a chance that a ban-in might have gleaned enough knowledge in order to write those leaflets.  
  
Bok-soo, the young thief whom the Jalgeum Quartet had exposed when Yoon-hee was accused of his crimes, was still working at the university, so it was easy enough to get in touch with him. "I'll ask around," he assured Jae-shin as he patrolled campus grounds in his green guard's uniform, "but I can't promise anything. You know how closemouthed the ban-in can be if they think you're out to hurt one of their own."  
  
"Yes, I do," he agreed, remembering how difficult it had been to find Bok-soo. He smiled ruefully and slipped the younger man a few coins. "It's worth a shot, though. Thank you for your help."  
  
He grinned. "Hey, I owe you and your friends my life; and in all the years since His Majesty ordered me to keep an eye on you, you haven't done anything wrong yet, so I guess you still deserve to be helped."  
  
Jae-shin went home wondering how else they might investigate in Banchon, and had already stepped inside the house when he realized that something he had never heard before was echoing through the house.  
  
Ka-hai was laughing. This wasn't the polite titter she used to react to his father's (admittedly feeble) jokes, but full-throated, genuine laughter, the kind one used when something was truly funny.  
  
He stopped in his tracks, mesmerized by the surprisingly musical sound, until he heard the sound of another voice. The speaker was a man whose voice Jae-shin didn't recognize.  
  
Frowning thoughtfully, he followed the sounds down a corridor and came upon his wife inside one of the western-facing rooms, taking tea with a richly-dressed young man.  
  
Ka-hai caught sight of him and smiled. "Oh, you're home!"  
  
"I just got in," he replied. That smile, the first one he had seen on her face in days, helped curb his temper, which had begun to simmer at the sight of his wife laughing with a stranger. With some effort, he glanced mildly at the guest and then arched an inquiring eyebrow at his wife.  
  
Remembering her manners, she gestured at the man seated across the low table from her and smoothly made the introductions. "My lord, please meet Im Dong-wook, an old family friend. Dong-wook, this is my husband, Moon Jae-shin."  
  
"It's a pleasure, my lord," Dong-wook said with an easy smile. "I missed your wedding because I was away on business for my father, so I'm here to offer my belated congratulations."  
  
Jae-shin grunted and managed a polite nod.  
  
"Why don't you get changed and join us?" Ka-hai suggested to her husband.  
  
"I think I'll just join you now." He seated himself at the head of the table. The hilt of his sword, which was in the scabbard still strapped to his back, waved meaningfully over his shoulder. "I'm comfortable enough in these clothes, anyway."  
  
"If you say so...." She regarded him dubiously for a moment, then turned away to instruct one of the servants attending them to bring another teacup.  
  
"So, my lord," Jae-shin said, helping himself to a honey cake, "you're a friend of my wife's family?"  
  
Dong-wook nodded. "My father and Lord Cha are neighbors," he explained. "Cha Ka-sar and I are the same age, and I often visited their home to play."  
  
"We all grew up together," Ka-hai added brightly.  
  
"How nice," Jae-shin drawled.  
  
"He and my brothers used to play all sorts tricks on me," his wife went on, and grinned. "Perhaps I could prevail on you to take revenge on my behalf?"  
  
"Maybe." Rather liking the idea of having a legitimate reason to strangle Dong-wook with the ties of the man's own hat, he turned to the other man with what he hoped passed for a friendly smile. "Do I have reason to demand satisfaction, my lord?"  
  
He probably didn't look friendly enough, because Dong-wook's smile wavered and he shifted uneasily. "O-of course not," he replied. "All of that happened a very long time ago, when we were just children, and they were all stupid, harmless tricks. Besides," he added, "I thought the matter was settled long ago, when your wife threw me into a fishpond."  
  
Despite his irritation, Jae-shin had to laugh. "You did that?" he asked her.  
  
Ka-hai nodded shamefacedly. "I started growing before the boys did, so I was bigger and stronger than them for a time," she explained. "I had forgotten all about that."  
  
He grinned and, acting on impulse, reached out to stroke her cheek with his thumb. "That's my girl," he murmured.  
  
Jae-shin smiled thinly when she blushed and lowered her gaze. It had been a rather intimate gesture to make in front of a stranger, but that was the point.

* * *

Dong-wook didn't linger, due in large part to his host's forbidding presence, and took his leave as soon as was acceptable. Nevertheless, Jae-shin still had to sit through a seeming eternity of joking and easy banter between his wife and her childhood friend. It was as though Ka-hai was rubbing in his face the fact that she was closer to Dong-wook than to her own husband, and he'd had no choice but to play along and pretend that they were a happily married couple even though he felt as though he were being cuckolded in his own home. By the end of the visit, his simmering anger had built up to a rage so intense that it was almost visceral.  
  
Once Dong-wook's horse finally disappeared from sight, Jae-shin grabbed his wife's wrist and hauled her into their bedroom. "Who was that?" he demanded, slamming the door shut.  
  
"I told you," she replied, startled, "he's an old friend. He came to congratulate us on our marriage."  
  
Ka-hai met his gaze squarely, but he detected a gratifying tremor in her voice and pounced on it. He leaned towards her, speaking in the quiet snarl that had so terrified many of his classmates at Sungkyunkwan. "You don't entertain male visitors unless I'm present, too, do you understand?"  
  
She frowned, perplexed. "What in the world is your problem?" she asked. "It was all very proper. We—"  
  
"Do you have any idea what people might think, seeing him come here while your husband is not at home?"  
  
She gasped and paled, but instead of falling to her knees in a penitent heap, she reached out and slapped him smartly across the face. "That's vile! If I don't do _that_ with you, what makes you think I would do it with anyone else?"  
  
The blow stung only a little, but it was enough to unleash the full brunt of Jae-shin's vaunted temper and he pinioned her roughly against the wall. "Is he the reason why you're parading around in new clothes all of a sudden?" he demanded. "Were you just testing your feminine wiles on me because you knew that your lover was coming?"  
  
As he ranted and bombarded her with questions, he was dimly aware that he was not at all acting like the good husband that Yoon-hee had once said he would make. However, he reasoned, this was not the time to keep calm and remain in the background. Ka-hai rightfully belonged to him!  
  
The uncooperative female, however, refused to be cowed. "Stop yelling at me!" she snapped. "I don't know what your problem is, but if it'll make you feel better, then I'll gladly submit to a physical examination to assure you that I've never lain with a man. You might even want to conduct that examination yourself," she added with a note of challenge in her voice, " _if_ you're up to it!  
  
"And one more thing!" Ka-hai went on. "I'm _not_ wearing my new clothes right now. They weren't for him, they were for _you_! Now, let go of me!"  
  
Baring her teeth, she punctuated her rebuttal with a kick to his shins. Although she didn't have the range to cause any real pain, the mere act of retaliation was enough to startle Jae-shin into loosening his hold. Ka-hai glared at him, eyes bright with angry tears, for a few moments before jerking away from him and flouncing out of the room, leaving him staring after her.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Technical Notes:** Ka-hai's advice re: how to fall properly is true. At least, that's one thing I picked up during my one semester of PE 122 (Judo for Women) :-p

_Chapter Seven  
  
Idiot. Moron. _  
  
Ka-hai strode through the house, scowling. She ran a finger over the top of a folding screen and, when it came up clean, gave a quivering pair of maids a brief nod of approval. Their relief at having passed inspection was obvious, but she didn't notice because the expression on her face had little to do with housekeeping.  
  
 _Fool. Half-wit._  
  
Her mother had always said that she was too impetuous, tending to say and do whatever she wanted without giving it any thought. Well, Ka-hai had definitely spoken without thinking while quarreling with Jae-shin that night, and all but dared him to consummate their marriage.  
  
She still wasn't completely ready for that, but since she hadn't made _that_ clear, it was very likely that he thought otherwise. Much to her relief, he hadn't made any moves towards that end thus far, but that didn't mean he wasn't waiting for a good time to strike.  
  
 _Imbecile. Ninny._  
  
"Please, my lady, you mustn't frown so." Kwan-sook had caught up with her mistress and was now trying to smooth the little wrinkle between Ka-hai's eyebrows with a finger.  
  
The servants who had attended the couple and their guest hadn't missed the young lord's increasingly surly demeanor during the visit, and wasted no time spreading the story among the rest of the staff. The sounds of a heated argument coming from the couple's bedroom not long afterward only served to reinforce the notion that he had erupted into a jealous rage over the visitor.  
  
The staff had to admire their lady for not backing down, but for all her capabilities as a chatelaine, she seemed to have no idea how she was supposed to sweeten her husband's sour mood, so both of them now went around with faces like thunderclouds. Those who remembered the years when the young lord was estranged from his father trod very, very carefully; and those who didn't were similarly nervous because it turned out that his wife liked to vent her frustrations on dust, dirt and clutter.  
  
"It was all just a misunderstanding," the maid went on as Ka-hai pushed her hand away and scowled even harder. "You have to remember, you're a married woman now. You have to be more conscious about how you deal with men. Of course the young lord would get jealous if he didn't understand what was going on!"  
  
"He's being an idiot."  
  
"My lady, you _have_ to make amends with the young lord. How would it look if he thought that you were too shrewish to be his wife and decided to cast you aside?"  
  
"Let him," she said in a coldly indifferent voice. She spied a cobweb fluttering innocently from a doorjamb. After a single look from her, the maid assigned to clean that room jumped to attend to it, cheeks red with mortification.  
  
Just then, Sang-hun appeared. "My lady? This just came for you." He held out the bulky parcel in his arms. "The man who brought it said it was from Professor Kim Yoon-shik. Do you know that person?"  
  
Ka-hai wanted to glare at the parcel — which probably contained the books she had asked to borrow, back when she had stupidly believed that her husband was a good man and she was starting to like him — but didn't want to frighten the boy. "Yes, I do," she replied, managing a small smile. "You did well, Sang-hun."  
  
She would still read them, of course, because she truly did want to learn more about medicine, but she would do so later, when looking at those books didn't remind her of her silly mooning over her hateful husband.  
  
"Please take it to my room," she instructed Sang-hun. "I'll attend to it later."  
  
 _Much later._

* * *

To Jae-shin's relief, the disagreement with Ka-hai occurred just as his father became busy reviewing the draft of a new law for King Jeong-jo. Not only did the work distract Minister Moon from any domestic disturbances, it kept the servants quiet as well. They clearly knew about the argument, judging from the way that they whispered among themselves whenever either Jae-shin or his wife walked by, but they also knew better than to disturb their lord when he was attending to important matters of state.  
  
The only danger, then, came from the other party involved in the incident. Ka-hai didn't seem the type to run crying to anyone at the first sign of conflict, but it didn't hurt to make sure that she stayed quiet as well.  
  
"How is the review coming along, Abeonim?" Jae-shin asked casually over dinner one night. "Does everything seem in order?"  
  
"It does so far," Minister Moon replied, nodding gravely, "but the new law will affect many areas of the government, so it's taking us a lot of time to make sure that it won't conflict with the others already in place."  
  
"You should make sure that you get enough rest, Abeonim," Ka-hai observed, looking sympathetic. "You can't do a very good job if you're sick in bed."  
  
He patted his daughter-in-law's arm with a smile. "I'll be all right, my dear," he assured her. "The review will be finished soon and I'll definitely take a rest afterward. In the meantime, though, I need to work hard."  
  
Jae-shin caught his wife's eye and sent her a warning look. While she seemed to understand that Minister Moon was very busy, the point of the whole exchange was to emphasize that she shouldn't add to his cares.  
  
Ka-hai raised a sardonic eyebrow in reply. Another of Kwan-sook's reasons for making peace with Jae-shin was in order to keep her father-in-law, who was so good to her, from worrying. The argument had failed to convince Ka-hai, but she also had no intention of tattling on her husband like a child crossed by a playmate. The issue was between herself and Jae-shin, and they would resolve it privately once he came to his senses and apologized. However, if word of the matter did reach Minister Moon's ears, then she would repeat her offer to provide proof that she was still chaste. She trusted that both he and her husband understood the importance of evidence, and in this particular case, the facts were firmly on her side.  
  
Suddenly, her father-in-law chuckled. "Oh, you two," he said jovially. "I know that you can't wait to be alone, but this old man hasn't finished with his dinner yet."  
  
"But Abeonim—" Blushing, Ka-hai was about to protest that she and Jae-shin weren't looking at each other in _that_ way, but she cut herself off. She didn't want to give her father-in-law any indication that there was trouble in her marriage. "I-it's so hard to take my eyes off him even for just one moment!" she blurted out, her cheeks burning even hotter. She heard her husband choke, perhaps to stifle his laughter. "Surely you're not so old that you've forgotten what it was like when you and Omonim were newly wed."  
  
"No, I haven't forgotten," Minister Moon replied, smiling fondly, "even though we were together for such a short time. I could tell you stories — but, on the other hand, perhaps my stories are better suited for Jae-shin's ears."  
  
Ka-hai couldn't help smiling with cool satisfaction as said ears turned red. That should show her husband that he had nothing to worry about from her end; if her father-in-law was ever going to catch on that they were on the outs, then it would most probably be Jae-shin's fault. "Well, perhaps you can tell him some right now!" she chirped. "I'm done with my dinner, anyway, and should be preparing for bed."  
  
She put down her chopsticks and bade Minister Moon good night. On her way out of the dining room, she paused at her husband's side. "Listen carefully to your father, my lord," she told him, bussing him noisily on the cheek, "but pray don't take too long."

* * *

Jae-shin knew that it had all been an act purely for his father's benefit, but Ka-hai's last words to him and the brush of her lips on his skin haunted him anyway.  
  
He rubbed his cheek absently as he sat and brooded on Young-shin's rock after dinner. Yong-ha would have probably disregarded it, but that kiss had been Jae-shin's first. With the exception of his mother (who didn't really count because she was his mother, and he had been too young to remember if she had done it at all), no other woman had ever gotten close enough to kiss him before.  
  
Had theirs been a happy marriage, like Sun-joon and Yoon-hee's, then those words would have been an invitation, the kiss a sample of things to come. He would have smiled, maybe whispered a racy reply in her ear, and made excuses to his father so that he could follow his wife to their bedroom.  
  
However, Ka-hai had said and done those things in anger, and it left him cold. Though his marriage wasn't a love match, he still wanted it to work well enough to create a peaceful home where his father could enjoy his golden years and his children could grow up happily. That wasn't going to happen if his wife felt herself too grievously insulted to go along with the plan.  
  
Jae-shin sighed. "I've really messed up, haven't I, hyung?"

* * *

Thanks to the entertainment provided by his son and daughter-in-law, Minister Moon was the last to finish his dinner. He shook his head as he finished one last cup of tea and had the steward summoned. "Keep an eye on those two," he instructed. "If this quarrel of theirs goes on any longer, I want them locked in their bedroom for as long as it takes for them to make up."

* * *

Unlike her husband, Ka-hai thought little of the kiss. She used to annoy her brothers by giving them loud, smacking kisses on the cheek when they were younger, so as far as she was concerned, what she had done that night didn't really count. Besides, there were more important things to think about other than the idea that she had finally given her husband a kiss, albeit a fake one — things like training Chul-moo to accept a rider.  
  
Apart from getting Chul-moo used to the bridle, Ka-hai had spent the past week or so laying an old skirt of hers across his back to accustom him to her scent and the idea of carrying something that smelled like her. After days of leading him around the courtyard without incident, she thought it was a good time to see whether the chestnut would allow her to ride him.  
  
She was glad when he allowed himself to be bridled and led to a mounting post with the usual skirt draped over him. Ka-hai tended to forgo saddles during first rides, because getting horses accustomed to a saddle was, well, a horse of a different color. Besides, it was easy enough to take care of herself in case she got thrown.  
  
Chul-moo stiffened and pranced nervously when she lowered herself on his back. "It's all right, Chul-moo," she assured him in a low voice. "This won't hurt you. We're just going to take a little walk, just like always."  
  
He calmed down somewhat at the sound of her voice, but he was more restive than most of the other horses she had worked with, so despite her best efforts, it was a rather bumpy first ride. He would take a few steps as long as she spoke to him, but would shy, buck or otherwise try to throw her off. Reminding herself that a horse followed its rider's lead, Ka-hai held on to the reins and gripped the chestnut's back firmly with her thighs, continuing to speak to him in a calm tone no matter how agitated he became.  
  
Suddenly, an angry shout rang across the courtyard. _"Hey!"_  
  
Chul-moo reared at the noise, whinnying in fright, and Ka-hai felt herself slide off his back. Instinctively, her muscles tensed, bracing themselves for the fall and preparing, once she was on the ground, to get out of the horse's way. To her surprise, something plucked her out of the air and she fell sideways, tangling up in something as she rolled.  
  
It was always a plus to fall on something soft when a horse threw her, but this particular something wasn't very soft at all, and it was yelling at her. _"What do you think you're doing?!"_  
  
Ka-hai blinked when she found herself looking down into her husband's angry face. "Are you crazy?!" Jae-shin demanded, glaring up at her. "That horse is uncontrollable! You could have broken your neck!"  
  
She scowled back and tried to hit him, but he was holding her too tightly and she couldn't move her arms. "I was doing just fine!"  
  
"Falling off is 'just fine?!'"  
  
"I've been thrown before and I know how to fall without seriously hurting myself," she retorted. "This is the first time Chul-moo let me ride him and you've spoiled it! I hope you're proud of yourself!"  
  
She wriggled in his grip, trying to get free so that she could hit him, and Jae-shin released her abruptly. Ka-hai smacked his shoulder, heedless of the strange expression that had crossed her husband's face, and scrambled to her feet, looking around for the horse.  
  
He had galloped away after throwing her, but now he came trotting back, the abandoned reins dragging on the ground. She grabbed them with one hand and dusted herself off with the other.  
  
Jae-shin also jumped to his feet. Unfortunately, this startled the horse, who would have bit him if he hadn't danced out of the way. He glared at it, still annoyed, and for once Ka-hai took his side, speaking sharply to the beast. "He's sorry," she explained when it hung its head.  
  
It snorted. "He's mostly sorry," she amended, trying and failing to suppress a grin.  
  
"I'm sure it is," he said, eyeing the pair skeptically as he bent to retrieve his hat, which had fallen off during the commotion. To his annoyance, one of the plumes had bent; he would have to trim it.  
  
 _"He,"_ Ka-hai corrected him. "Chul-moo is a colt."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
Presently, one of the grooms walked up and his wife handed him the reins with some brief instructions. After dispatching the horse, she turned back to Jae-shin and helped beat the dust off his uniform with, he noticed, a little more energy than was strictly necessary. "If you're going to help, could you do it a little more gently, please?" he asked.  
  
He must have winced in pain a little more than he thought when she started on his right shoulder, because she stopped and peered closely at him. "What's wrong?"  
  
"I just hurt my shoulder a little, that's all."  
  
"From when we fell?" she demanded, alarmed.  
  
"No," he replied. "It happened while we were chasing down a thief earlier today. But," he couldn't help adding, "what happened a while ago may have something to do with it, too."  
  
"Well, you brought _that_ down on yourself," Ka-hai told him tartly, but preoccupation with his injuries took most of the acid out of her words. "Does it hurt very badly?"  
  
Jae-shin shook his head. This was nothing compared to the wounds he had received during his Red Messenger days. "It just aches a lot right now, that's all. I'll feel better after getting some rest."  
  
She sighed and dusted off her hands. "Let's have a look."  
  
"I said it'll be fine," he insisted as she hustled him into the house. "I've been hurt before."  
  
"I once heard Ka-sar say the same thing, and it turned out he was hiding a dislocated finger." Ka-hai herded him into their bedroom and went straight to the washstand to wash her hands. "Take off that shirt," she ordered.  
  
"I'm not taking anything off in front of you!" he exclaimed, turning red.  
  
"Don't be such a baby," she said impatiently. "I've already seen what you have under there, remember? Of course, if you just want to forget about it, then you can go to work tomorrow feeling terrible. Maybe the damage is so bad that your arm will eventually have to come off. It's your choice."  
  
Well, there was no arguing with that. Grumbling, Jae-shin checked to make sure she wasn't staring before unfastening his belt and the armguards securing the sleeves of his outer tunic. He had hoped to shed his clothes quickly, before his wife turned around, but the hurt shoulder hampered his movements and she had to help him remove his jeogori.  
  
Ka-hai's cheeks grew hot as she tried not to stare at his bare back, marred here and there with small, jagged scars. Of course, she had to look and maybe touch, but purely for medicinal purposes. _Stop acting so silly,_ she ordered herself. _He needs you to help him, not ogle him!_ "I don't suppose you've lost feeling in your fingers?" she asked, prodding gingerly at his shoulder and fighting to keep her voice brisk and businesslike. "Can you rotate your arm?"  
  
"I hate to disappoint you," he said dryly, "but my fingers feel fine, and I can rotate my arm, except that it really hurts when I do it."  
  
"That's not what I meant at all," she said, stung. As much as she liked the idea of her husband miserable and in pain because he deserved it, it was better if he were whole and healthy so that she could fight with him without feeling guilty. "I was just checking to see if you've seriously injured yourself."  
  
"I've broken bones before. It doesn't feel as bad as that."  
  
"Then that's good. I guess you've just strained or pulled a muscle in your shoulder, that's all." She hesitated. "I suppose I could try to do something about that... if you want."  
  
He paused as well. "I guess you might as well," he agreed finally, "since you already have me like this."  
  
"All right." Keeping her eyes studiously averted from him, she unrolled one of the sleeping mats, laid a sheet on top of it, and turned briskly to one of the chests that held her things. "Lie down on your stomach, please."  
  
Jae-shin hiccuped and did as he was told. He heard the clink of porcelain behind him and, moments later, she was touching him. He jumped and yelped, _"Cold!"_  
  
"Sorry." Behind him, he heard her breathe hard, probably on her hands, and soon they were on him again, warmer now and working on his shoulder. They were rough for a yangban woman and there was nothing seductive about the way she was touching him — in fact, she seemed to have a knack for going after the particularly painful spots. However, perhaps the fact that she was his wife was what made this whole thing, well, disturbing.  
  
 _Pretend it's Professor Jung,_ he told himself, squeezing his eyes shut. _You're at Sungkyunkwan, you got hurt playing jangchigi and he's curing you._  
  
He hiccuped again, then immediately launched into a coughing fit as a pungent odor assailed his nostrils. "What in the world is that smell?" he sputtered.  
  
"Horse liniment," she told him briskly. "I make it myself."  
  
"If it's for horses, why are you using it on me?" The smell was making his eyes water, but despite that it was a welcome distraction. He had been having a very hard time trying to think of an excuse for why the Professor Jung in his imagination sounded like a girl.  
  
"It works on people, too. I use it all the time."  
  
"It smells terrible."  
  
"If a horse can withstand the smell, you can, too." Ka-hai concluded her ministrations by giving his shoulder a final pat. "All done," she announced. "You can—"  
  
"That's not all of it," he blurted out before he could stop himself. "Part of my back hurts, too."  
  
"Really? Where?"  
  
Reaching behind him carefully, he indicated a spot on his lower back, on the same side as the hurt shoulder. "Here. I definitely hurt that when we fell down earlier."  
  
She hummed disapprovingly; but before he could add that he wasn't just saying that so she would keep touching him, she began to work on the (truly, genuinely) injured area. "Next time you fall backwards, try to fall flat on your back," she lectured. "It helps to distribute the impact."  
  
"I'll try to keep all of that in mind the next time I'm in mid-air," he replied dryly.  
  
Jae-shin grinned even as she responded by digging a knuckle into a tender spot. It wasn't nice to annoy her after she had tended his injuries, but the situation with his wife had been spiraling out of his control long before he saw her start to slip off that horse's back. He had needed to bring things back onto familiar ground.  
  
He was congratulating himself on succeeding when her braid fell over her shoulder and swung against his arm. It brushed gently over his skin as she worked, as if tauntingly asking him whether everything was truly safe and familiar again.  
  
He buried his face into his pillow and groaned.  
  
Above his head, Ka-hai sighed impatiently. "Look, I'm sure it hurts and the liniment smells terrible, but I'll be done in a while," she said. Her hair stopped brushing against him, indicating that she had flipped it back over her shoulder. "After this, you can put your shirt back on and you don't have to bathe tonight. Just keep warm and rest, and you'll feel better tomorrow, I promise."


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author's Note:** Thank you very much to the reader/s who left kudos for this story :)

_Chapter Eight_  
  
Even though the smell had made his nose curl, Jae-shin had to admit that Ka-hai's horse liniment worked wonders; he felt much better the next morning compared to the way he usually felt after a night's rest. Sergeant Ho, his commanding officer, was surprised when he reported for work that afternoon. "Are you sure you're up to it, Detective Moon?" he demanded. "I did say you could take both today and tomorrow off, didn't I?"  
  
"Absolutely sure, sir," he assured him.  
  
The older man eyed him warily. "All right," he said, "I'll let you go out on patrol today, but if there's any action, you stay out of it, do you hear? If something happens to you, your father will have my head!"  
  
"I was surprised you managed to get out of bed today, old man," In-soo told him as the pair set out to make their rounds. "I thought you would be at home, wrapped up in blankets with your wife spooning broth down your throat."  
  
Jae-shin colored as he remembered exactly what Ka-hai had done to treat his injury, but he laughed off his unease. "I hate to disappoint you," he replied, "but I just slapped on some horse liniment and then I was fine."  
  
His partner sniffed delicately. "I was wondering what that smell was."  
  
They walked through the busy streets, stopping to assist ajummas with their burdens, resolve traffic disputes and exchange pleasantries with Yong-ha at his shop. There was no action during their shift that required more than medium lifting, which meant that Sergeant Ho had nothing to worry about and Jae-shin had plenty of time to let his mind wander.  
  
Unfortunately, it kept wandering back to yesterday's events. Did Ka-hai's helping him yesterday mean that they weren't fighting anymore? Perhaps his wife just had a habit of wanting to doctor every little hurt that she came across; but, given her anger with him, she could have just as easily stood back and laughed instead of treating his injuries. Besides, hadn't she said something a while back about dressing up and making herself pretty for _him_? Had that been some kind of romantic overture? The idea made him hiccup.  
  
Suddenly, his sleeve snagged on something, distracting him from his thoughts. _"Psst!"_ a voice hissed.  
  
He turned at the hissing noise to find a dark figure running down the passage. Knowing immediately who it was, he didn't spare In-soo another glance and melted into the shadows.  
  
Moving as silently as she, Jae-shin followed the Blue Messenger down the alley. She made her way confidently through the streets, confirming his suspicions that she was at least a longtime resident of the city. Every so often, she glanced over her shoulder to check whether he was still following her, but didn't speed up when she saw that he was still on her tail.  
  
The Messenger and her pursuer scaled a wall and leapt onto the roof of the house beyond. A few rooftops later, she finally stopped. "Did you just grab my arm back there?" Jae-shin asked her, bending down with his hands on his knees to catch his breath.  
  
She turned to him, intending to answer, but paused and sniffed the air. "What's that smell?"  
  
"Never mind," he told her flatly, still breathing hard. "What do you want?"  
  
To his surprise, she held out a blue leaflet. "I thought you would want to look at this before I sent it out."  
  
He looked at it blankly. "You want me to _proofread_ your next message?"  
  
"Maybe this way, you won't pick on my writing so much."  
  
He took the leaflet from her. The sun had set, but it was a clear night, so he was able to read the words easily. "There are no hints here about where you're going to be next," he observed.  
  
"Of course not!" the Messenger snorted. "I'm not stupid, you know. Keep reading." She flapped her hands at him briskly. The gesture reminded him of Ka-hai shooing away her brothers on the day they met, and just like that, his wife was on his mind again. "It's the substance of my message that I want you to look at."  
  
Jae-shin skimmed the text and handed it back. "It's fine."  
  
"Don't overdo the praise or anything," she said dryly.  
  
"What more do you want me to say?" he replied, annoyed. "If I told you exactly what I agreed and disagreed with and you rewrote it accordingly, then that message will contain my thoughts and beliefs, not yours. How can you encourage the people to think for themselves if you don't do the same?"  
  
"You just don't want to help me."  
  
"Last time I checked, it wasn't in my job description."  
  
"Is it just me, or do you seem extra grouchy today?" The Messenger peered at him. "What's the matter, Officer? Is your wife nagging you too much or something?"  
  
He shook his head. "It's nothing. It's stupid."  
  
"Try me."  
  
"If you must know," Jae-shin replied with a sigh, "we had an argument."  
  
"It was your fault, wasn't it?"  
  
"How can you say that when you don't know all the facts?"  
  
"It's always the man's fault in these situations." She folded her arms and raised an eyebrow. "All right... what did you do?"  
  
"She wore some new clothes and got angry when I didn't notice them," he replied with a roll of his eyes. Then, he added evasively, "And I may have said a couple of dumb things after that."  
  
The Blue Messenger groaned. "You really have no idea what you're doing, do you? She was trying to get your attention, you idiot, and you basically just threw that back in her face!"  
  
"Hey, watch your mouth," he warned, scowling. "You're still a wanted criminal, and I'm duty-bound to arrest you. Anyway, I don't think she's as angry as she used to be," he added defensively. "Maybe she's gradually coming around."  
  
"Even then, you messed up big time," she replied. "You're going to have to do some serious groveling to make amends."  
  
Jae-shin scowled. He was willing to admit that he had gravely insulted his wife, but she had some fault in all of this, too, and he didn't like the idea of groveling. "I don't know if just saying that I'm sorry — even if I really am — will be enough," he hedged.  
  
"You bet it won't," the Messenger told him. "Your wife made a pretty significant gesture, so it's going to take a lot more than just saying you're sorry."  
  
"Well... what do you think I should do?"  
  
She looked at him for a long moment. "You can buy her a present," she suggested. "I mean, I'm sure you have some money on you so you can afford to do that."  
  
"Yes, I have some money. What should I get her?"  
  
"I can't just tell you what to buy," the Blue Messenger said, exasperated. "The gift should come from your heart. Surely you have _some_ idea of what kinds of things she likes by now. Or... does she need anything that she doesn't buy for herself?"  
  
Jae-shin brightened as an idea came to him. "Yes," he said. "As a matter of fact, she does."

* * *

Ka-hai was sitting in their bedroom, sewing and humming to herself, when Jae-shin got home that night. He paused for a while to take in the domestic tableau and must have stared too long because it was she who spoke first. "Oh, you're home," she remarked politely as she looked up from her work.  
  
He nodded, his arm tightening around the bundle that he carried.  
  
"Is there anything you need?"  
  
"Um... there is, actually." Walking over to her, he held out the parcel. "I need to give this to you."  
  
His wife glanced at it, but made no move to take it. "What is it?"  
  
"It's a present. For you," Jae-shin added, just in case it wasn't obvious. "From me. I, uh, thought you might need some new ones," he went on, "so I got you some."  
  
"Oh." She set aside her sewing and finally reached out to accept the parcel. "Well, thank you."  
  
"You're welcome."  
  
He supposed that he should say something more, maybe a short speech about how the gift was an apology, but he had been so preoccupied with the actual buying of the present that he hadn't prepared anything else. Finally, he said, "I'm going to get something to eat," and beat a hasty retreat.  
  
Ka-hai watched him leave, then looked down at the bundle in her hands. Clearly, the present was his attempt to make peace. It would have been nice to hear him admit that he was wrong about her and Dong-wook, but her husband seemed to be a man of action rather than words.  
  
Quickly, she opened the parcel and began to laugh. Apparently, Jae-shin thought that her racy underthings were thin from repeated washings, and bought her new underwear of sturdy, closely woven material. It was a rather misguided present, but she had to admit that it was also sweet in that he had tried to put some thought into it.  
  
Besides, she thought, blushing as she set her new underclothes aside, she supposed that it also meant that her husband had at least noticed how thin those underclothes had been.

* * *

Jae-shin was glad that his wife had accepted the present, which was surely a sign that she was willing to forgive and forget. Further, he often glimpsed Ka-hai with a smile on her face ever since the night that he had given it to her, which indicated that he had found the perfect gift on the first try.  
  
He was congratulating himself again on his newfound knack for choosing presents when he arrived home late one night and found her already abed. She had a habit of cocooning herself in her blanket like a giant caterpillar when she lay down to sleep; the fact that she was lying half-out of her blanket and with one arm flung out towards his side of the bed told him that she had been asleep for a while.  
  
From the colored trim on the garment, Jae-shin could tell that she was wearing at least the undertunic he had given her. He could also tell by the good two inches of wrist extending beyond the cuffs that it was too small.  
  
He sighed as he shed his uniform and disappeared behind the screen in the back of the room for a quick, very cold bath. Why didn't she say anything? He wanted to get her a good present, and would have been happy to exchange the clothes for ones that actually fit.  
  
(Perhaps he should have asked Yong-ha's advice on this matter after all. He had considered it, but didn't want his friend looking over his shoulder while he bought underwear for his wife.)  
  
On the other hand, Jae-shin thought as he donned fresh clothing and got into bed, Ka-hai might have kept quiet in order to spare his feelings, which was also quite nice of her. Or else she was just so busy these days that she didn't notice his present's, er, shortcomings.  
  
One thing was for sure, though: he definitely had to do something more to make amends with his wife. Although his standards might not be as exacting as the Blue Messenger's, even he knew that a present of ill-fitting clothing wasn't going to do the trick.

* * *

Jae-shin tried again a few days later, on his next day off. Upon rising, he dressed quickly, stopped for a quick word with the cook, and then went in search of Ka-hai.  
  
She was sitting in one of the sunny eastern rooms, working on another pile of sewing, when he found her. He cleared his throat and, when she looked up, he said, "I have the day off today."  
  
"I can see that," Ka-hai replied.  
  
He nodded. "So... I was wondering... if you would like to go for a ride with me. That is," he added quickly, gesturing towards the pile of snowy white linens at her elbow, "if you're not too busy." He was fairly certain that his wife would rather ride than sew, but didn't want to get in the way of her work if it was important.  
  
Ka-hai laughed. "Oh, there's no end to mending," she told him. It was true; there was always a sheet that needed to be re-hemmed or a hole in a sock that needed to be darned. Nevertheless, she thought it was still more economical than buying replacements all the time. "It can wait."  
  
"So you'll come?"  
  
She nodded. "But I'll need to change into men's clothes," she warned him. "I can't ride properly dressed like this." Her mother, trying to observe the proprieties, had once forced her to ride in a woman's hanbok, but the endless blowing of her skirt around her head and her brothers' laughter had put a quick stop to that.  
  
"Fine with me," Jae-shin replied with a shrug and a small smile. "You know I hardly ever bother with a hat, so I can't cast stones."  
  
Ka-hai found herself smiling back. As a compromise following the skirt incident, she was allowed to ride around in man's garb, but only on the Cha estate. It appeared that her husband didn't intend to hold her to a standard different from those he held for himself. "All right, then. Just let me finish this piece I'm sewing, and then I'll go change."

* * *

Once she was dressed and ready to go, husband and wife stopped by the kitchens for provisions. To Ka-hai's surprise, Master Jeung had a bountiful picnic all ready for them. "I hope you'll enjoy yourselves, my lord, my lady!" chirped the cook, waving as they left with the basket.  
  
"Did you ask Master Jeung to pack us some food?" Ka-hai asked her husband once they were out of earshot.  
  
"Of course," Jae-shin answered.  
  
" _Before_ you asked me to go out riding with you?" she pressed, arching an eyebrow.  
  
"Why not? If you had said no, then I would have gone by myself."  
  
Chul-moo was still too inexperienced to take out riding, but Ka-hai had brought other horses with her when she first moved to her husband's house. One of these, together with the stallion that Lord Cha had presented his son-in-law, was saddled and waiting outside the house. "Where are we going, anyway?" Ka-hai asked as they mounted up.  
  
"It's a surprise," her husband told her. "Let's go."  
  
With Jae-shin leading the way, they rode out of the city and up the hill overlooking Banchon. Apart from the tree he had appropriated on the Sungkyunkwan campus, this was one of his favorite places. He felt a bit nervous about sharing the spot with his wife, but supposed that it counted as a "significant gesture" on his part, even if she might not be able to understand it as such.  
  
Fortunately, she seemed to love it. "This is wonderful!" she exclaimed as they dismounted. "Look at how small the city looks! What's that over there?"  
  
"That's Sungkyunkwan University, where my friends and I went to school," he replied, pointing. "And that's Banchon right beside it. It's not the nicest place in town, but the students hang out there a lot." At least, he had.  
  
"How did you find out about this place?"  
  
"I came across it while I was at school."  
  
"Skipping classes, no doubt," Ka-hai sniffed, but she sounded more amused than anything else.  
  
Jae-shin chuckled, not denying it, and turned towards her in time to see her undoing her braid. "What are you doing?" he asked with a tiny hiccup.  
  
"Taking down my hair," she answered simply, running her fingers through it and massaging her scalp. "It's nice and windy up here, and I haven't had the wind in my hair for so long."  
  
A stiff breeze blew a hank of it right into her face. She grinned at him through the dark web and reached over to flick at his hair, which hung loose and shaggy around his own face, with her fingers. "And you can't cast stones about that either, huh?"  
  
"No," he agreed, dropping his gaze and chuckling. "Come, let's eat."

* * *

Naturally, Ka-hai insisted on seeing to the horses first, but once their mounts' saddles were removed and they were turned loose to graze, husband and wife sat down to the spread the cook had provided. There were large pancakes fragrant with green onions, radish kimchi, dumplings and sweet rice cakes. Master Jeung had also packed makgeolli for them to drink, and after some initial hesitation, they shared the single bottle companionably.  
  
"This reminds me of home—I mean, where I grew up," she said, popping a cube of spicy pickled radish in her mouth and wiping her hands on a napkin that the cook had thoughtfully provided. "We didn't have hills this high, but sometimes my brothers and I would ride to the far end of my father's lands and just lie around for hours."  
  
"That sounds very peaceful," Jae-shin said.  
  
"I don't know if it was peaceful, what with us running wild all over the place," she laughed, "but the farm was much quieter compared to the city." She stretched out her arms, turning her face up to the sun. "And a lot more open."  
  
He watched her quietly for a few moments before speaking again. "I have something for you."  
  
"For me?" Ka-hai repeated, looking surprised. "Why in the world would you have something for me?"  
  
"Because you're my wife?" he replied with a quirk of an eyebrow. "Could you just give me your hand, please?"  
  
A wary expression crossed her face at his faintly annoyed tone, but she did as he asked, allowing Jae-shin to fasten his present around her wrist: a bracelet of white porcelain beads on a silken cord, much like the one he wore, with each bead decorated with a tiny painting of a bird or flower. "They didn't have any horses," he explained as he tied the knot firmly to ensure that the trinket wouldn't fall off. "I checked."  
  
She laughed softly at that. "This is beautiful even without horses," she assured him. "Thank you, Jae-shin."  
  
However, instead of saying "you're welcome," he froze. "Did I do that?" he asked.  
  
"Did you do what?" Ka-hai repeated blankly. He pulled back her sleeve, which had ridden up earlier, to reveal a few yellow-green bruises marring her skin. "Oh, that. Yes, I guess so; no one else has grabbed my arm lately."  
  
He lowered her arm gently. "I'm really sorry," he said in a quiet voice. "That day... it wasn't my finest moment."  
  
"No, it wasn't," she agreed, glancing away briefly. "But the bruises are nothing. I barely knew they were there."  
  
"Even then," he insisted. "If my brother were alive, he would have had me drawn and quartered for raising my hand to a woman."  
  
Technically, _she_ had raised her hand to _him_ , but Ka-hai said nothing. Even though she hadn't felt a thing, she didn't want her husband to believe that she would let herself be manhandled like that.  
  
"And the things I said to you...." A dull red flush spread over his cheekbones. "You know I didn't mean them, don't you?"  
  
Taking a deep breath, she decided to let go of the last of her anger and nodded. He had been angry (even jealous, if Kwan-sook was right), and she of all people should know that one sometimes said and did stupid things when they were upset. "I probably should have been more mindful of how my actions might look to others, too," she acknowledged. "But I hope that from now on, you'll trust me as I trust you."  
  
Ka-hai did trust him; not only had Yong-ha assured her that he'd had very little to do with women, but Kwan-sook also reported that there wasn't even the faintest whisper among the servants about her husband ever having a lover.  
  
"I vowed to be faithful," she went on, "and if there's one thing my father taught me, it's the importance of keeping one's word." She had chosen her words carefully in order to avoid antagonizing him, but couldn't help adding, "If you ever doubt me again, you had better be prepared to talk to me properly about it, or I'll do more than slap you."  
  
That brought him up short. "Oh, really?" he asked.  
  
She gave him the level stare that had often cowed her brothers into submission. "Yes, really."  
  
Since he wasn't one of her brothers, his lips curled in a slow smile. "I'll keep that in mind."  
  
That smile caused a strange fluttering inside her belly, but she managed a decisive nod. "Good."  
  
"Since we're apologizing to each other," Jae-shin said suddenly, "there's something you need to make up to me."  
  
 _"Me?"_ she asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Yes — that kiss you gave me in front of my father." He gave her his best imitation of Yong-ha at his most critical. "I don't mean to put down your technique, but it was pretty pathetic."  
  
"You obviously don't know anything," Ka-hai scoffed. "That wasn't a kiss. I used to do that to annoy my brothers all the time. Besides, you were the one—"  
  
"I know you did it to keep Abeonim from knowing that we quarreled," he acknowledged, "but you did it to annoy me, too. Since we've basically agreed to start over, I think it's worth doing that again properly, don't you?"  
  
"You just want me to kiss you," she accused, cheeks flaming.  
  
All right, perhaps he did, but not just for its own sake. There were principles at stake here. "All you do is play games," he goaded her. "When someone calls your bluff, you run away. How are we doing to have a serious marriage if you keep up that habit?"  
  
She raised her chin defiantly. "I never start something I can't finish."  
  
He leaned towards her, the challenge in the air making his blood sing. "Then prove it."  
  
His wife gave him a disgruntled look. For a moment, he thought she was going to balk, but then she closed the rest of the distance between them and touched her lips to his.  
  
Ka-hai kept her lips primly closed, intending to linger only for as long as necessary to satisfy her husband's silly whim, but then his mouth opened over hers and she promptly lost count of the seconds.  
  
Jae-shin cupped her cheek with one hand and took her lower lip between his teeth, nibbling gently and sending lightning all the way down to her toes. She stiffened and made a strangled noise in the back of her throat, but instead of pulling away, she leaned closer in a silent invitation to explore further.  
  
A sudden, playful gust of wind sent Ka-hai's unbound hair whipping wildly around their heads, breaking the spell. Blushing, he cleared his throat and carefully untangled himself from the silky strands. "We should probably start heading back," he suggested in a low voice.  
  
"A-Abeonim might worry if we don't show up for dinner," she agreed.  
  
He looked away as she began to restore her hair to rights. Giving in to the impulse to try out what little he had learned from Sun-joon's red book and taking a more active role in the kiss had been a bad idea. (Perhaps it hadn't been a _completely_ bad idea, because his wife had seemed to like it, but overall it had been a bad idea.) Actually, goading her into kissing him had been a bad idea, too, because instead of considering their argument and all related issues closed, Jae-shin felt as though he had opened the door on something for which they were both unprepared.  
  
 _Now who was the one playing games?  
  
Let that be a lesson to you, Cha Ka-hai,_ she told herself as she busied herself with weaving her hair back into a neat braid. _If you're going to play games, they had better be the kind that you're sure you'll win._ Ka-hai had risen to the challenge and given her husband a proper kiss, so technically she was the winner of this round, but she couldn't help feeling as though she had narrowly escaped getting more than she had bargained for. She bit her lip against the fluttering in her belly that hadn't stopped at all, and in fact seemed to be getting worse.  
  
 _It was a good thing we were interrupted... wasn't it?_


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Technical Notes:** I'm a city kid myself and don't know what a cow in labor sounds like, either. Let's just say that in my imaginary world, they make a lot of noise. :D

_Chapter Nine_  
  
Fortunately for Jae-shin, he secured the truce before the night that the Jalgeum Quartet came for dinner. He trusted that his wife wouldn't conveniently "forget" that his friends were coming, poison the guests or otherwise do anything to shame him, but he knew by now that she was a little on the unpredictable side, so he approached the evening with caution.  
  
As it turned out, she didn't forget that they were having company to dinner, and if she was bent on killing their guests, she was going to do it through a surfeit of good things to eat and drink. Moreover, she dressed prettily (Jae-shin noticed this time), laughed at the professors' funny anecdotes about their students, and gamely knocked back a shot of the fiery Chin liquor that Yong-ha had brought.  
  
"Ugh!" Ka-hai sputtered. "It tastes like liniment!"  
  
Her husband laughed even though he, too, was still recovering from the effects of the drink. "You've drunk that stuff?"  
  
She coughed and nodded. "My brothers couldn't sit down for a week."  
  
Yong-ha gallantly offered her his crimson silk handkerchief so that she could wipe her streaming eyes. "Have a care for your skirt, my dear," he advised. "You don't want to end up looking like my newest customer, who must have been dressed by a depressed dressmaker with ten thumbs before she came to me."  
  
Jae-shin smiled as his friend launched into a story about the unfortunate customer. There was something deeply satisfying about entertaining his friends tonight. It was the first time he and Ka-hai had guests over since they were married — Dong-wook definitely did not count — and he couldn't help feeling a certain measure of pride as his wife kept the evening flowing smoothly with the ease of a seasoned hostess.  
  
With nothing more than a nod, she summoned servants to bring more wine. Moving with silent efficiency, they replaced the depleted bottles at the table with fresh ones, and to Jae-shin's surprise, they put another bottle on the table, right at his elbow.  
  
At his inquiring glance, Ka-hai leaned over to murmur, "That one's all yours."  
  
He arched an eyebrow. "Are you trying to get me drunk?" he asked. The idea tightened the strange tension that had been building in his gut ever since that afternoon on the hill.  
  
Her heart skipped a beat and warmth rushed to her cheeks at the teasing note in his voice, but she raised her chin and met his eyes squarely. "Of course not," she retorted. "I just happen to know that it's only a matter of time before you start drinking straight out of the bottle, and I'd rather that it isn't the same one that the guests are using, that's all."

* * *

Ka-hai was glad that their guests seemed to be having a good time. She enjoyed watching the camaraderie among the long-time friends, but it was also touching how they made the effort to include her in the conversations as well.  
  
"How is your reading going?" Yoon-hee asked her as the men started debating politics. "Are you finding the books useful?"  
  
"I've finished a couple," she replied, glancing furtively at Jae-shin to check whether he had heard, "but I have to admit that some of the rest are still too advanced for me. I should probably give those back."  
  
"You may need to do a bit more background reading," the other woman suggested. "There's a bookseller in town who might be able to supply the books you need. I can always borrow the advanced ones for you again when you're ready for them."  
  
She smiled. "That would be nice. Thank you so much."  
  
"You're very welcome," Yoon-hee replied with a warm smile of her own. "It's so nice to have another woman around. The others have always been nice to me, but I feel outnumbered sometimes."  
  
"I know the feeling," Ka-hai confided. "This is a house of men. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to pretend that I _don't_ call the shots around here?"  
  
The ladies laughed, leading the men to look at them curiously. "Hey, what are you two whispering about over there?" Yong-ha wanted to know.  
  
"Nothing, sa-hyung," Yoon-hee told him sweetly, even as she winked at the other woman. "I was just telling Ka-hai here that she and her husband must come and visit us sometime."  
  
"That's not nothing," Sun-joon pointed out, logical as always.  
  
"You're inviting just those two?" Yong-ha demanded, sounding hurt. "Am I excluded because I'm still footloose and fancy-free?"  
  
"Of course not, Yeo-rim sa-hyung," Yoon-hee's husband assured him. "You know you're always welcome at our home."  
  
 _"Yeo-rim?"_ Ka-hai repeated, arching a quizzical eyebrow at Yong-ha.  
  
"That was sa-hyung's nickname at Sungkyunkwan," Yoon-hee explained.  
  
"It fits me, doesn't it?" he asked brightly. "We all received nicknames at school. I'm Yeo-rim and Sun-joon is Ga-rang. And does our Ga-rang live up to his nickname, my dear Lady Kim?"  
  
"Most of the time," his wife laughed, with a mischievous glance at the man in question.  
  
"What was _your_ nickname, Yoon-hee?" Ka-hai asked.  
  
The other woman grinned. "They called me Dae-mul."  
  
She laughed and nodded approvingly. "I love that the woman got the most impressive nickname."  
  
"They didn't know I was a woman at the time," Yoon-hee informed her.  
  
"Really?" Ka-hai's eyes widened in surprise at the revelation, but she recovered quickly. "Well, it doesn't matter," she went on. "I'm sure you deserved that nickname more than anyone else."  
  
"She did," Sun-joon confirmed, smiling at his wife.  
  
"Uh-oh." Yong-ha reached over to poke Jae-shin's arm with his fan. "Did you know that Ka-hai is one of those feminists?"  
  
"Right from the day we met," he replied with a crooked smile, glancing at the woman in question. She didn't notice, so he let his gaze linger a little, taking in the elegant line of Ka-hai's throat and the starry sparkle in her eyes as she bantered animatedly with Yoon-hee.  
  
There was a twinkle in Yong-ha's eye as well when Jae-shin turned back to him. "And yet you married her anyway?"  
  
He shrugged. "It was something to do."  
  
Presently, Ka-hai turned to him, one eyebrow raised in a graceful arch. "And what did people call Jae-shin at school?" she asked.  
  
"They called him Geol-oh," Sun-joon supplied, looking startled when she started to laugh.  
  
"What's so funny?" Jae-shin wanted to know. He hadn't really cared about the nickname while at school, but hearing an outsider laugh at it was something else. (It didn't matter that the outsider was his wife, and her laughter was doing funny things to his heartbeat.)  
  
"It used to strike terror into the hearts of our classmates," Yoon-hee said.  
  
"I'm sure it was very intimidating to them," Ka-hai acknowledged, but a smile still lingered in the corners of her generous mouth. "But my father always said that I never met a horse I couldn't train."  
  
"Oh, really?" Jae-shin asked, pinning her with the penetrating stare that he had used to great effect during his days as a scholar. He smiled faintly to show the others that he was jesting, but there was genuine challenge in his eyes.  
  
Instead of quailing as many others before her had done, Ka-hai's eyes narrowed in a glare of her own. "Yes, really," she replied evenly, with a purse of her lips that had him catching his breath and suppressing a hiccup at the same time.  
  
The others burst into laughter when Jae-shin started to cough. "I suppose it means that Geol-oh sa-hyung and the lady Ka-hai are well-matched," Sun-joon chuckled.  
  
"I'll drink to that!" Yong-ha declared, holding out his cup for a refill.

* * *

The gathering ran well into the night, until Yong-ha said that it was time to adjourn. "I'm intercepting so many smoldering looks in this room," he complained, fanning himself violently, "that I'm scared I'll burst into flames at any moment."  
  
Sun-joon, presumably responsible for most of those smoldering looks, readily agreed that it was time for him and Yoon-hee to head home; and despite Ka-hai's entreaties to stay a little longer, the guests took their leave not long afterwards amid a flurry of thank-yous and promises to get together again soon.  
  
A heavy silence descended as they rode out of the courtyard, broken only by the occasional shuffle of feet courtesy of the handful of guards on night duty. With everyone else in the house already abed due to the late hour, and without his friends to serve as a buffer, Jae-shin felt as though he and his wife were completely alone.  
  
His heart began to pound and he hiccuped, then felt driven to further break the silence by trying to make conversation. "That went well."  
  
"It did, didn't it?" she agreed, apparently unaware of the direction that her husband's thoughts were taking.  
  
Ka-hai sounded so pleased that despite his nervousness, he couldn't help but smile. "Thank you for everything," he told her, holding out a (barely trembling) hand to escort her back into the house. "I think they had a very nice time."  
  
She beamed and put her hand in his. "I was happy to do it."  
  
They passed the dining room and paused to thank the couple of servants who had thoughtfully stayed up to clear the remains of the party. The servants smiled back, pleased to have their efforts recognized, and exchanged wildly speculative looks as they watched the couple proceed hand-in-hand down the corridor, chatting amiably about how well the evening had gone. Master Jeung had been right when he told them that they were finally reconciled; and judging from the look on the young lord's face, he intended to make sure that the peace was going to last.  
  
"I really like your friends," Ka-hai said expansively as she and Jae-shin entered their bedroom.  
  
"They're your friends, too," he reminded her, shrugging off his overcoat.  
  
"I suppose they are," she agreed, taking it from him and going to the wardrobe to hang it up. The faint scent of herbs and something warm and clean drifted towards him as she walked past. "And I'm glad. It's nice to have a female friend like Yoon-hee around, and Yong-ha has been very helpful."  
  
"Helpful?" he repeated as his feet carried him to where she stood, smoothing out the garment.  
  
She looked at him and laughed. "Who else could have convinced me to get new clothes that I didn't really need?"  
  
"I should have known he had something to do with that." Jae-shin looked her over. "You're wearing them right now, aren't you?"  
  
He must have looked a bit too interested, because Ka-hai blushed and glanced away, mumbling, "Yong-ha would have been insulted if I didn't wear some of them tonight."  
  
Although she'd had a fair amount to drink that night, she wasn't so tipsy that she missed the glances her husband sent her way that had fairly set her skin on fire, or the way he was now crowding her like a stallion stalking a mare in heat. She swallowed hard as she backed into the open wardrobe; the realization filled her not with fear, but with an unsettling anticipation.  
  
"He told me that my old clothes were so unfashionable that it was practically a civic duty to undress me," Ka-hai babbled on, trying to keep her voice even despite the racing of her heart. The best mares, she reminded herself, were the difficult ones; and while leading her husband on a merry chase was currently impossible because her feet felt rooted to the floor, there were other ways to make him earn the privilege of mating with her. "Not that he ever did, of course," she added quickly. "He just likes to shock people by talking that way."  
  
"Luckily for him, I know that," Jae-shin said as he drew the jeweled pin out of her hair, sending her braid tumbling down her back, and deliberately set the trinket aside. "Otherwise, my oldest friend would have been in very serious trouble."  
  
"I-I'm glad there's no such misunderstanding, then."  
  
"So rather than killing him," he went on, "I guess I should be thanking him. You look beautiful."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
Sometimes, mares bit stallions, too. Perhaps she should bite him. _Later,_ she thought, the idea sending a dark thrill shivering through her.  
  
Jae-shin wished he could tell what his wife was thinking. By now, she seemed to know what was on his mind, but she also knew that they didn't have to do anything tonight if she didn't feel that she was ready. Perhaps the fact that Ka-hai hadn't run from him yet meant that, like him, she was finally ready for the physical side of marriage. On the other hand, he thought, his heart sinking, she could just be waiting for a good time to say no.  
  
Mustering a smile, he reached up to toy with the ties on her jeogori. "So... you're wearing them for me, right?" he asked, the backs of his fingers brushing against her high-waisted skirt and, he imagined, the warm, taut body underneath.  
  
She nodded, her eyes wide and dark.  
  
"I think they make you look like a very special present." Steeling his resolve, Jae-shin tugged gently, and the knot holding the jacket closed came undone. "I suppose that means I should unwrap you."  
  
He drew in a shaky breath when she squared her shoulders and twined her arms around his neck. "Yes," Ka-hai agreed softly as his hands sought her waist. "I suppose you should."

* * *

He hiccuped only three times.

* * *

Much, much later, Ka-hai was startled awake by a hand roaming over the bare skin of her back. She stiffened instinctively, her eyes flying open to find herself snuggled up against her husband, and he looked just as surprised as she felt.  
  
"Sorry." He withdrew his hand quickly and rolled away onto his back, taking a good part of the blanket with him. "It was an accident. I was just trying to figure out where I was and how I wound up—" he gestured vaguely at the bed at large "—like this."  
  
She couldn't help smiling even as she tugged on the other end of the blanket to cover herself. Even though the sun hadn't quite risen yet, she could tell that he was blushing. "Don't tell me you don't remember, Moon Jae-shin...!"  
  
That got an chuckle out of him. "I remember," he assured her; then his gaze turned uncertain and he reached out shyly to smooth some of her hair, which was now loose and quite tangled, back from her face. "How are you feeling?"  
  
"I'm all right," Ka-hai said. There was a definite ache in places she had never thought about before, but all in all it wasn't much worse than the way she felt after a long day of riding. ( _Maybe I shouldn't be thinking of riding at a time like this...._ ) "How about you?"  
  
"Just fine, but then I'm not the one who had to—never mind."  
  
She blushed. "Speaking of that," she said with a little giggle, "I was wondering... did your friends call you 'Geol-oh' only because you were crazy?"  
  
" _I'm_ crazy?" Jae-shin retorted, grinning and nudging her foot with his own. "You bit a piece out of my shoulder."  
  
"I did not!"  
  
"Well, you definitely bit me," he insisted, "when you weren't making so much noise that I was afraid that the whole house would know what we were doing."  
  
"I was making noise?" She poked his arm. "What about you? I've heard cows in labor that were quieter."  
  
"I don't know what a cow in labor sounds like, so I guess that's one for you."  
  
"City boy," she snorted derisively.  
  
Rather than say something in reply to that, he decided to take advantage of certain things he had learned last night, and tickle her. That triggered an impromptu wrestling match that tangled them in their blankets and would have become serious if they hadn't heard footsteps outside their door, signaling the start of a new day. Now that the servants were up and about, it was only just a matter of time before Kwan-sook appeared to help her mistress wash up and get dressed.  
  
Ka-hai, who had just gained the upper hand in the tussle, buried her face in his chest with a groan. "Maybe I'll just stay in bed today."  
  
"That sounds like a good idea," Jae-shin agreed, carefully moving his arm to cradle her close. Although he didn't know much about how a woman's body worked, and he had tried hard not to hurt her, he figured that she might need time to recover from her first time with a man.  
  
"But there's so much that needs to be done around the house," she said plaintively.  
  
"So? Haven't you taught the servants how to do it all properly by now?"  
  
"I also need to bring Abeonim his breakfast. I don't want him to think that I'm not a dutiful daughter-in-law."  
  
"He'll think you're being a dutiful daughter-in-law if you tell him that I won't let you get out of bed."  
  
He felt her face grow warm against his skin. "I am not saying anything like that to your father!" she told him. "Besides, you have to get out of bed to go to work, don't you? There's no point in my staying in bed if you're not here, too."  
  
He grinned. "If it's that important to you, then I can also tell my commander that my wife refused to let me get out of bed."

* * *

Jae-shin was still grinning when he eventually got out of bed and reported for work that morning.  
  
He and In-soo were on desk duty that day, which he supposed was a good thing considering that, like his wife, he was short on sleep due to last night's party and subsequent events. At the same time, however, he felt more than awake, his senses extra keen. That probably would have been very useful out on patrol, but instead it was wasted on catching up on paperwork and revisiting every shred of evidence in the Blue Messenger case.  
  
On the bright side, the slow-paced routine work gave him plenty of opportunities to relive the events of the night before.  
  
It hadn't been perfect. They had both been shy in the beginning and, according to Sun-joon's little red book, certain things were supposed to happen and not all of them had. Nevertheless, judging from the noises that Ka-hai had made, which sounded encouraging to his inexperienced ears, and the way she later clung to him, things hadn't gone too badly for a first attempt. He was confident that they would get better with practice. Lots of practice.  
  
"Did you find anything new in the Blue Messenger case?" In-soo asked as he returned from filing the latest batch of reports.  
  
Jae-shin shook his head. "No."  
  
The other man was mystified. "Then why are you smiling?"


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _EDIT 02-07-2016: Cho-sun now has a given name separate from her canonical gisaeng name - no last name due to her likely low social standing. However, I still refer to her as "Cho-sun" in her scenes with canon characters just so it's clear to readers that it's her and not some random OFC._

_Chapter Ten_  
  
The next time Jae-shin saw Ka-hai, it was in the stables right after he arrived home. Despite last night's exertions, she appeared to have felt well enough to exercise Chul-moo; and, judging from the fact that his wife was calmly brushing the horse's mane instead of sliding off his back, this session had gone better than the one he had witnessed.  
  
Nevertheless, he approached the pair with caution. "Chul-moo seems quieter now," he observed, knowing well enough to speak quietly to avoid startling the skittish animal.  
  
Instead of the horse, it was Ka-hai who jumped at the sound of his voice. She turned, her cheeks pink, and they smiled shyly at each other. It had been easy enough to go about their workaday routines when they were apart, but seeing each other again was a stark reminder that things between them had irrevocably changed and they would have to figure out how to move forward from there.  
  
"He doesn't try to throw me anymore," she told him as she put down the brush and offered Chul-moo a carrot. "He still gets restless when he thinks he's carried me long enough, and he doesn't seem ready for a saddle yet, but we're getting there."  
  
She laughed as the horse, having made short work of the treat, nuzzled her hand, looking for more. "There's another carrot in the bucket," she said to Jae-shin. "You can give it to him if you like."  
  
He offered the carrot to Chul-moo, who accepted it even though it wasn't his mistress who was feeding him. "Good boy," he praised, patting its nose before allowing Ka-hai to start leading the animal to its stall.  
  
He about to remark that Chul-moo seemed to like him better now when the horse suddenly stepped sideways, knocking her off-balance. She bumped into Jae-shin, and husband and wife ended up in a heap on a nearby pile of straw.  
  
"I guess he still doesn't like me much," he said instead.  
  
The straw rustled as she removed his hat, which had been knocked askew by the fall, and set it aside. "Oh, I don't know...." Ka-hai said, her cheeks turning pink. "Maybe Chul-moo was trying to give me to you as a thank-you for the carrot."  
  
He glanced up at the horse, who walked the rest of the way into his stall with a disinterested snort. That didn't tell him much, but given the situation he was in, he supposed he couldn't really complain. "If that's true," he replied, grinning and looping an arm around her waist to pull her closer, "then I suppose he really likes me now."  
  
She giggled and he kissed her, only to pull away when he heard footsteps. They looked up in time to see one of the grooms chuckling and beating a hasty retreat. "It looks like someone saw us," Jae-shin remarked uselessly, feeling his face grow warm.  
  
"Well, we aren't exactly in private," Ka-hai said, glancing away.  
  
It was probably a good idea to get up or at least move apart, in case someone else came along, but he didn't budge. The straw was vastly more comfortable than the hard-backed chair he had been sitting in all day, and his wife felt very nice in his arms.  
  
She made no move to leave, either. "How was your day?" she asked in a conversational tone, as though she were facing him across the dinner table instead of lying half-atop him, brushing straw from his clothes. "Did anything interesting happen?"  
  
"Nothing at work," he answered, "but we did get invited to a wedding. Do you remember my partner on the force, Ha In-soo? His sister's getting married."  
  
"That's nice for her."  
  
"She's marrying a classmate of ours from Sungkyunkwan," he went on, "so the guests will be mostly school friends. Yoon-hee, Yong-ha and Sun-joon will be there, so you won't have to worry about not knowing anyone."  
  
"I'll go shopping for a present tomorrow," Ka-hai promised. "Oh, and since you mentioned him, I got a letter from Yong-ha today."  
  
He stiffened. "Why would he be writing to you?" he demanded with a scowl. As attractive as he thought his wife to be, he didn't think she was Yong-ha's type; but then he supposed he could never be completely sure about that, given the way that his friend flitted from one woman to the other like a gaudy butterfly.  
  
"He wrote me about you, actually."  
  
"Me?" Jae-shin asked, puzzled now instead of irritated.  
  
She nodded and gave him the naughty smile signaling that she was up to another one of those things that was bound to make his life interesting. "Now I know all about your hiccuping habit."  
  
"Oh, that." He cleared this throat and tried to assume an unaffected air that was marred by one of the aforementioned hiccups. "And I suppose you're going to take full advantage of that knowledge now."  
  
"Not right at this moment," Ka-hai told him, coloring as she glanced at their surroundings, "but eventually."  
  
"Why in the world did my father ever agree to a match between you and me?" he asked with a long-suffering sigh, although it was obvious that he was trying not to smile.  
  
"I think it's because he has a sense of humor."

* * *

The marriage of Ha Hyo-eun to Lim Byung-choon, which took place later that week, was a small but happy affair. The close personal ties between the bride's brother and the bridegroom meant that, apart from a handful of relatives and Hyo-eun's small group of friends, most of the wedding guests were former Sungkyunkwan students. This gave the occasion a relaxed, informal air, which was welcome considering that the bride's father, the former Minister of War, was unable to attend due to a long-term engagement at the state prison.  
  
While the negotiations were admittedly tamer than those at Jae-shin's wedding, In-soo nevertheless put on a good show while haggling with Byung-choon's representatives, Seol Go-bong and Kang Moo. With their former classmates calling out suggestions (some of which were actually helpful) and heckling from the sidelines, the negotiators argued loudly with each other before eventually striking a bargain to tumultuous cheering from their audience.  
  
"Maybe In-soo sunbae should have sat on both sides of the table," Sun-joon remarked as they followed the negotiators back into the Has' house.  
  
"Then the negotiations wouldn't have been as much fun," Yong-ha sniffed.  
  
"I don't know," Jae-shin snickered. "It might have been entertaining to watch In-soo try to cheat himself."  
  
They had located Yoon-hee and were giving her the highlights of the negotiations when Ka-hai appeared from another room. She spotted them and, smiling, began to make her way over.  
  
Jae-shin watched his wife come towards them. Whether she was cutting a swath through a yangban wedding party or tidying up their bedroom, she moved with an intriguing combination of grace and purpose. Some men might be attracted to a pretty face or a beautiful figure, both of which he believed Ka-hai had in spades, but it was the way she moved that did it for him.  
  
It took him a while to realize that his friends were snickering. "Sa-hyung is clearly smitten," Sun-joon remarked with a grin.  
  
"What?" Jae-shin asked blankly.  
  
"If you stare at your wife any harder, you're going to melt the clothes right off her," Yong-ha added, and gave him a little nudge. "But that would save a lot of time, won't it?"  
  
"Shut up," he muttered, turning red and giving his friend a little shove. "By the way, thanks a lot for telling her about the hiccups."  
  
"I just thought it was something that your wife, of all people, should know."  
  
"Well, now she knows, and she says she's going to put that information to very good use."  
  
"Good girl."  
  
"Hiccups?" Sun-joon and Yoon-hee repeated, puzzled.  
  
Fortunately for Jae-shin, there was no time to enlighten their scholarly friends, because that was when Ka-hai joined them. "My dear lady!" Yong-ha greeted her with a brilliant smile. "Have I told you that you look simply ravishing? The person who designed your hanbok is an utter genius."  
  
"He is indeed," Ka-hai agreed with a laugh. Clearly, her clothes that night were more of his handiwork. "And thank you, kind sir."  
  
"I must also compliment you on the miracle you wrought with Geol-oh, here. Usually, he looks like a...." He gazed thoughtfully into space, gesticulating as he groped for the right word.  
  
"Haystack?" she suggested before she could stop herself. Then, fearing that the remark might cause him to lose face in front of his friends, she quickly added, "But a handsome haystack!"  
  
Yong-ha laughed, but didn't let up on his teasing of Ka-hai's husband. "Actually, the word I had in mind was 'beggar."  
  
"But 'haystack' has a certain charm about it," Yoon-hee said brightly.  
  
"I think we should trust Ka-hai's opinion on this matter," Yoon-hee's husband remarked. "She is Geol-oh sa-hyung's wife, after all."  
  
Stodgy Sun-joon getting in on the act proved to be the last straw for Jae-shin. "If all of you are done making fun of me," Ka-hai's husband said testily, "I believe the ceremony is starting."  
  
"Oh, yes!" Yoon-hee said, distracted by the sight of the wedding guests drifting towards one of the front rooms of the house. "Come, let's go so we can get a good view of the action."  
  
"Haystack, huh?" Jae-shin murmured to his wife as they joined the crowd.  
  
"Yes, but a _handsome_ haystack," Ka-hai corrected him, blushing but managing a saucy grin. She had never told her husband that he was good-looking, although she privately thought so; and she felt quite bold finally saying it out loud, even though she had couched it as a joke.  
  
He gave her a look that promised vengeance, but she knew he wasn't truly angry by the suspicious twitch of his lips. "That makes it only a _little_ better," he told her. "I still think I deserve compensation for the insult."  
  
That sounded like the kind of thing that Minister Moon mentioned when the menfolk talked about work at the dinner table, so she supposed she could try responding in kind. "You can plead your case when we get home." She paused and gave him a coy look. "In fact, I'm quite looking forward to it."

* * *

Judging from the number of ladies who cried, it was a lovely wedding. The bride, as the center of attention, was in her element; and the look on the groom's brutish face as he gazed at his new wife was enough to tell everyone that he was going to adore her as she deserved.  
  
Still, Byung-choon's new brother-in-law couldn't help issuing some final warnings even after all was said and done. "If you ever make her cry, you're going to answer to me," In-soo threatened as he and a group of former scholars in various stages of inebriation escorted the newlywed towards the bridal chamber.  
  
"That means you have to be gentle," Go-bong advised.  
  
"But make it good!" added Bae Hae-won, gesturing with the bottle in his hand and sloshing makgeolli on the floor.  
  
"If you want to talk about being good," Ahn Do-hyun declared, "maybe you should ask Geol-oh here for tips. Judging from that glow on his wife's face, he must know some really good secrets!" He began to laugh uproariously, but stopped short when no one else joined in.  
  
Jae-shin waited, his dark face inscrutable, for his former classmates' faces to take on the fearful expressions they had always worn in his presence. Then, suddenly, he broke into a wide, cocky grin. "Sorry," he said, "but the reason for that glow on my wife's face is something I can't teach. After all, you didn't start calling me 'Geol-oh' simply because I was crazy, did you?"  
  
"I did, actually," Yong-ha murmured to him as, the tension broken, the others felt free to burst into ribald laughter.  
  
"Let me have my moment, will you?"  
  
His friend laughed. "Yes, my Lord Haystack."

* * *

Fortunately for Jae-shin and his classmates, the lady in question was well out of earshot. She had not been among those who helped the bride prepare for bed, and was currently very busy observing a group of the bride's flibbertigibbet friends whisper and glance at another of the party guests.  
  
The woman they were eyeing was not dressed any differently from them (although, perhaps, her colors were a bit more bold, indicating that she was one of Yong-ha's customers), but there was something about her demeanor that set her apart. She seemed to be aware that the other women were talking about her, but unconcerned that the things they were probably saying weren't very nice.  
  
Her mind made up, Ka-hai strode over and planted herself at the lone woman's side, giving the others her best imitation of Jae-shin's expression whenever he was displeased about something. She turned to the stranger with a smile when the group of silly girls subsided. "Hello," she said conversationally. "I was just wondering who designed your hanbok. I think I recognize Gu Yong-ha's work."  
  
The other woman smiled. "His style _is_ rather distinctive, isn't it? I can see you're wearing one of his creations as well. I don't think any other merchant is bold enough to carry that shade of lilac."  
  
Ka-hai laughed and nodded. "My name is Cha Ka-hai."  
  
"Pleased to meet you. My name is Il-hwa."  
  
"I take it you're not a friend of the bride's."  
  
Il-hwa looked mildly surprised at the straightforward remark, and then she laughed. "No, I'm not, and it was nice of you to come and keep me company."  
  
"I saw them looking at you and thought it would only be fair to even up the numbers a bit," Ka-hai said, shrugging. "Why were they doing that, anyway?"  
  
There was the surprised look again. "I suppose it has something to do with my former career."  
  
"Which was?"  
  
The other woman's porcelain skin turned a fetching shade of pink, but she raised her chin defiantly. "I was a gisaeng," she replied. "The best in Joseon, even if I do say so myself."  
  
"Really?" No wonder she had that kind of bearing, and no wonder those girls had pointed and whispered. "How interesting."  
  
"That's a diplomatic way of putting it."  
  
"Well, it is. I've never met someone who worked as a gisaeng before." Sometimes, they were hired to help entertain at her parents' parties. Even though her mother never let her Ka-hai mix with them because of their low status in society, she knew that they were primarily artists and performers, not prostitutes. "What do you do now?"  
  
"This and that," Il-hwa said with a graceful shrug. "Some of the younger gisaengs still consult with me on certain things, and they pay me for my advice; but for the most part, I can afford to live comfortably without working."  
  
"Good for you," she answered, nodding in approval. "I know that it can be very difficult for a woman to live on her own. At least you have the means to take care of yourself. I mean," she added quickly, "I'm, uh, assuming you're not married."  
  
"No, I'm not married, and I am quite fortunate," the former gisaeng agreed smoothly. "But enough about me. What about you? I assume you're not one of the bride's friends, either?"  
  
Ka-hai laughed. "No, I'm not. My husband works with the bride's brother."  
  
"Indeed? Who is your husband?"  
  
At that moment, Jae-shin appeared at his wife's side. "Sorry I was gone for so long. Is everything all right?"  
  
"Everything's fine," she assured him cheerfully. Besides the occasional amazed or nervous look she received whenever she introduced herself as Moon Jae-shin's wife, and those silly girls looking down on Il-hwa, she was having a nice time.  
  
"Where's Yoon-hee?"  
  
"She had to speak with someone about his brother at Sungkyunkwan or something like that, but Il-hwa and I were having a nice chat." She turned back to the other woman. "This is my husband, Moon Jae-shin. Jae-shin, this is—"  
  
"— the lady Cho-sun," her husband finished for her, bowing politely. "I know."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," Ka-hai said stupidly. "I didn't know you knew each other." _She was just an entertainer,_ she told herself. _And even if she wasn't, remember what Yong-ha said—_  
  
"I know your husband only by his towering reputation, my lady," Il-hwa (formerly Cho-sun, Ka-hai supposed) assured her with a smile, then returned Jae-shin's greeting. "It's nice to see that you are well, my lord."  
  
"Thanks; same here," he answered in a coolly polite tone that sounded wonderful to Ka-hai's ears, and immediately shifted his attention back to his wife. "People are starting to head home now. Are you ready to go, too?"  
  
"I suppose—" Ka-hai began.  
  
He peered at her intently. "You look sleepy," he declared. "We should go home."  
  
Ka-hai blushed. Despite his best efforts, it was clear that her husband was eager to go home (and, presumably, to bed, where it would be a while before either of them actually got any sleep). "I am starting to feel a bit tired," she said demurely, figuring that he would push the issue if she didn't agree, and gave Il-hwa a bow. "It was very nice to meet you," she told the other woman, meaning it.  
  
"Likewise," the former gisaeng replied, and regarded the couple with mild amusement. "Something tells me you're quite an interesting person, too, Lady Cha. I do hope that our paths will cross again."

* * *

Cho-sun didn't stand alone for long after Jae-shin and Ka-hai's departure. With his duties as host more or less fulfilled, In-soo was now free to join the person at the party whom he most wanted to see.  
  
"You look lovely as always," he said, smiling as he approached. "I'm so glad you could come."  
  
The biggest change in In-soo's behavior since leaving Sungkyunkwan had occurred in his treatment of Cho-sun; where he would have once demanded her time with a young, powerful nobleman's sense of entitlement, he now approached her diffidently, like a man not completely sure of his welcome. Due to the end of her career and the scandal that befell his family, they were on more equal footing now compared to those days — in fact, one might even think that despite their continued difference in social status, she had him at a disadvantage simply because he was the one doing the wooing.  
  
"Thank you," Cho-sun replied. "It was a lovely wedding. Congratulations."  
  
"There was a time when I would never have considered Byung-choon as a possible husband for Hyo-eun," In-soo admitted, "but he's a good man, and he truly loves her."  
  
"He has for a very long time. I'm sure that he will make your sister happy."  
  
He paused, collecting his thoughts and his courage. "Don't you envy them?"  
  
"Not particularly... but then I've never considered Byung-choon as a possible husband for myself."  
  
"That's not what I mean," he told her, chuckling. "I mean—"  
  
She laughed, too; a soft, low sound that made him think of flowers in the moonlight. "I know what you mean."  
  
In-soo supposed that was a sign that he could take a more direct approach to the discussion. "Cho-sun, I've been asking you to marry me for two years now. You know how I feel about you, and you must feel something for me to put up with my courting you for so long."  
  
"Maybe I just like making you suffer."  
  
"If you wanted me to suffer, you could have just rejected my suit from the very start."  
  
"My rejection of you never stopped you before," Cho-sun remarked, arching an elegant eyebrow. One thing that hadn't changed about In-soo, she thought with some amusement, was his tenacity. Although she had tried not to see it, she knew that as a student he pursued excellence as doggedly as he had her. Today, he applied that same singleminded sense of purpose to proving his worth as a police officer and, in doing so, rebuilding his family's reputation.  
  
"By 'rejection,' I mean disappearing from my sight," he clarified, "or, even worse, marrying another man and living a disgustingly happy life with him until the end of your days."  
  
"I spent most of my life crushed under your father's thumb," she said, some of the deep-seated bitterness still coloring her voice. "What makes you think I would willingly subject myself to the same treatment at the hands of another man, so soon after gaining my freedom?"  
  
"It wouldn't be like that with me. He used you for his own gain, while I simply just want to be with you. I don't even want a dowry," he went on earnestly. "Just you."  
  
"Marrying me will cause a scandal," Cho-sun warned him. As sweet as his devotion was, she feared that it and his privileged background may have sheltered him from the harsher realities of life, including the possible backlash of a marriage between the heir of a yangban family and a woman who was not just a commoner, but a former gisaeng to boot.  
  
"I doubt if the scandal will come close to the one that was caused by my father's arrest. I can survive anything after going through that."  
  
"Nevertheless, people will talk," she insisted. "Not just about you and me, but about Hyo-eun, too. Do you really want to risk undoing everything you've done to restore your family's reputation?"  
  
"If people will talk, they won't talk for long," In-soo said, his eyes turning cold and flat at the thought. "Byung-choon will take care of Hyo-eun's honor, and I will take care of yours." He took her hands, his fingers warm and strong around hers. "I would never let anyone speak ill of you, Cho-sun — whether or not you become my wife. I promise you that."  
  
Her heart fluttered at his impassioned declaration, just as it had that day when he took a stand against his father, her long-time tormentor, and physically placed himself between her and the Minister's guards. Although she prided herself on being an independent woman, she still wanted to share at least part of her life with another person, one who would respect and cherish her. She had once thought that she found that person in Scholar Kim Yoon-shik, except he turned out to be a woman and deeply in love with someone else. Now, it seemed that that person had been by her side the whole time.  
  
"Of course," In-soo went on, determined as always to push the issue, "I would infinitely prefer it if you did me the honor of becoming my wife.  
  
"But it's all right with me if you still want to think about it," he sighed when she said nothing. "You know I'll always respect your wishes. I just thought I would seize this opportunity and ask. Again."  
  
Cho-sun tried hard to maintain her inscrutable facade. Years of living as a gisaeng had taught her that betraying emotions could be fatal. This time, however, she failed. The aftereffects of witnessing a wedding, the idea that marriage would help her attain at least some of the respectability she craved, and the fact that she had finally grown tired of fighting the affections of one very devoted, endearingly obstinate man all conspired to breach her defenses and caused a shaky laugh to escape her, like a long-cherished wish whispered to the wind.  
  
"All right, Ha In-soo," she told him softly, blushing and squeezing his hands with hers. "I'll marry you."


	11. Chapter 11

_Chapter Eleven  
  
The so-called "new Joseon" is nothing but the same system in new clothing. For all the king's promises, the people are still starving in the streets and power remains concentrated in the hands of those who are more interested in protecting their own selfish interests than actually being of service to the people. We need to see real change, not just hear new words from the mouth of the king. The government must—_  
  
Ka-hai tossed the blue leaflet into a nearby trash heap with an impatient snort. "I have no idea what this person is trying to say," she muttered.  
  
She was turning away from the trash heap when she was suddenly swept off her feet by a pair of strong arms. _"Noonim!"_  
  
Disoriented, it took her a while to realize that one of her brothers had picked her up in a big bear hug. "Oof, she's heavy!" Ka-sar complained to Ka-chun, who was standing by and watching. "I think she's getting fat."  
  
"She could be pregnant," the younger brother pointed out. "Are you pregnant, noonim?"  
  
"No, I'm not!" she said, blushing. "Put me down!"  
  
Despite their making fun of her just moments before, Ka-hai couldn't help embracing her brothers once Ka-sar set her back on her feet. She hadn't seen them since her last visit to her father's house, which was, she realized, quite a while ago. "What are you doing here in town?" she asked them. "Business for Appa?"  
  
Ka-chun nodded. "How about you?"  
  
"Just some shopping." Besides buying a few things for herself, she was also placing orders for her father-in-law's birthday celebration, but decided not to mention it just yet. She wasn't sure yet whether Minister Moon was going to invite his in-laws to the party.   
  
"I'm heading home shortly," she went on as Kwan-sook emerged from the bookseller's with the parcel of books for which Ka-hai had been waiting. "Would you like to come and visit for a while?"  
  
"My lady," the maid reminded her in a low voice, "are you sure that's a good idea? The young lord is on duty today. Don't you remember the last time you had guests while he wasn't around?"  
  
Ka-sar held up his hands. "You don't have to feel obligated to invite us if Ma-hyung won't allow it," he said. However, he couldn't resist adding, "But I have to admit I'm curious to hear about what did happen the last time you had guests while he wasn't around."  
  
"Nothing happened," his sister told him flatly. "And I wouldn't invite you if I wasn't allowed to have guests. I'm just supposed to let Jae-shin know, that's all; and I think he's just at headquarters today, so it'll be easy enough to send him a note. Perhaps he can even join us.  
  
"You must come to the house and take some tea," she pressed further. "I'll show you around the house and you can see Chul-moo."  
  
That convinced the brothers, who had sheepishly admitted that they couldn't do a thing with the chestnut before sending him to Ka-hai. "He's still alive?" Ka-chun asked, surprised.  
  
"Of course he is! I don't think I've completely gentled him yet, but he's much more tame now than when he first arrived."

* * *

Mindful of the marital disaster that occurred the first time she entertained without her husband present, Ka-hai did send a note to police headquarters to inform Jae-shin that her brothers were visiting and invite him to join them, but the messenger returned saying that he had been called away to assist with an emergency.  
  
The emergency turned out to be a street fight, which caused Jae-shin to come home wounded as well as late. His armguard had taken the worst of the blow, so the slice across his forearm was neat and not too deep as to require stitches, and it had been treated before he got home, but Ka-hai insisted on seeing to it herself.  
  
"An apothecary near the scene saw to us once things had settled down," he told his wife as he watched her dress the wound with a poultice that fortunately didn't smell as bad as her infamous horse liniment. (It stung a little, though.)   
  
"I don't like the looks of a lot of those apothecaries in town," she said darkly. "Some of them don't seem to be any better than a bunch of quacks."  
  
Jae-shin, of course, knew quite a bit about treating injuries on the fly and the man who had treated him appeared competent enough; but he decided not to say anything. He quite enjoyed having his wife fuss over him. "His hands did look a little dirty," he fibbed.  
  
"There, you see?" Ka-hai unwound a length of clean cotton for a bandage and busied herself with binding his wound. "Abeonim should speak to the Minister of War about retaining physicians on the force. Or maybe he should go straight to the king? I don't know, but the government really should take better care of its police officers."  
  
He smiled fondly at the top of her head. "Where were you when I was getting shot at on a regular basis?"  
  
Looking back, Jae-shin felt as though his days as the Red Messenger were characterized by periods of heart-pumping excitement punctuated by moments of loneliness and even terror. There were times when he'd had to heal himself by sheer force of will alone; when he denied himself the healing of slumber, dozing only when the pain and fatigue finally overcame him, for fear that he wouldn't wake up and no one would ever know what had happened to him. He hadn't been pleased to discover that Minister Moon had been on to him, and hadn't wanted to let the rest of the Jalgeum Quartet in on his secret, but the good thing that had come out of having others know was that he didn't have to face that pain and fear alone again.  
  
Ka-hai looked a little puzzled, which was only to be expected because she had no idea what he was talking about, but she smiled and bantered back, "I believe I was out in the country, doctoring horses and dreaming of the day when I could tend a real, live wounded warrior."  
  
"Well, this warrior is going to be just fine, thanks to you, my lady," he answered, grinning and leaning over to kiss her. "But even then, I still got a little beat up. You'll need to be gentle if you want to have your wicked way with me."  
  
She kissed him back willingly, but blushed and shot him a faintly disapproving look at the joke that followed. "I can't believe you can still think about that at a time like this!"  
  
"Why not? I'm wounded, not dead."

* * *

Minister Moon was glad to see that the quarrel between his son and daughter-in-law seemed to be over. In fact, judging from the flush on their faces as they entered the dining room, they had apparently settled their differences so well that it would only be a matter of time before he was dandling a grandson on his knee.  
  
"Please pardon our tardiness, Abeonim," Ka-hai apologized as she and Jae-shin took their customary places on either side of him. "I was busy tending to my lord's injury."  
  
Minister Moon eyed the bandage on his son's arm with some concern. "How is it?"  
  
"I'll be fine, Abeoji," Jae-shin assured him, grinning at his wife. "Ka-hai did a most thorough job."  
  
She shot him a withering look, but nodded briskly. "It's nothing to worry about," she confirmed as she poured tea for everyone and directed the servants to bring out the food. "I've seen much worse on my brothers."  
  
"Speaking of your brothers," Minister Moon said, "did you have a nice visit with them, Ka-hai?"  
  
"Oh, yes," was the cheerful reply. "They told me all the news from home. Ka-sar says he might start looking for a bride soon."  
  
"Best of luck to him," Jae-shin commented, looking faintly amused at the idea of his rambunctious brother-in-law getting married and settled.  
  
"That's what I said," Ka-hai snickered. Minister Moon couldn't help smiling at the mischievous glances that passed between the two. "And I showed them around the house a little bit, so they could see where I live." She glanced down and picked at a tiny snag in her skirt. "They were curious about how I was doing."  
  
"And... what did you tell them?" her husband asked quietly.  
  
"I told them I'm doing just fine, and that I'm happy," she replied. "Being married is a lot better than I had imagined. I love being in charge of my own house, and Abeonim is very kind to me."  
  
Her father-in-law gave her a fond smile. "I'm glad to know that you're happy here, my dear."  
  
The tension left Jae-shin's shoulders at Ka-hai's response, but his carriage stiffened right back up again when he realized that she hadn't mentioned one very important thing. "And what about your husband?" he asked, giving his wife a quizzical look. "What do you think of him?"  
  
Ka-hai pretended to think for a moment. "Oh, he's all right, I suppose," she replied finally with a little wrinkle of her nose. "He leaves his clothes on the floor and sometimes he can be grouchy, but he has his uses."  
  
Minister Moon had to laugh at the outraged expression that crossed his son's face. "I do not leave my clothes on the floor!" Jae-shin protested.  
  
"Really?" she teased. "Then I suppose you just brought home some new rugs to decorate our room." She gave a small, long-suffering sigh. "They're not really to my taste, but if you like them so much, then I guess I can live with them."  
  
Her husband narrowed his eyes at her, but there was a smile playing around his lips as he said, "I'll get you for that, woman."  
  
Ka-hai gasped and she rounded on her father-in-law. "Did you hear that, Abeonim?" she demanded, her eyes comically wide. "He threatened me, and after I said I was prepared to put up with those ugly rugs for his sake! I should have let that wound fester."  
  
This last she said with a reproachful look at Jae-shin, who hid his bandaged arm behind his back. "That's a nice thing to say to your husband, who got wounded in the line of duty," he huffed. "Well, you can try to get your bandages and your medicine back if you want, but I'd like to see you try to use them again."  
  
"That's enough, now, children," Minister Moon interjected. "Or else you're both going to have to eat in the kitchen."

* * *

"She started it," Jae-shin said defensively as he and his father sat in Minister Moon's study after dinner.   
  
"Be that as it may, _someone_ had to be the adult at that table," the older man said with a wry smile. "Be careful with your arm."  
  
"It's fine, Abeoji."  
  
The reason why both men were in the study that night was that King Jeong-jo was considering amending the kingdom's labor laws, and Minister Moon thought it would be a good idea to discuss the proposed changes with his son. They occasionally discussed matters of state when their respective schedules allowed it; not only did Jae-shin provide a fresh perspective, but Minister Moon also wanted to give him the chance to become as competent in interpreting the law as he was in enforcing it. Although the boy was connected with a different Ministry and seemed to be doing well there, his father saw no harm in making other career options available to him (provided, of course, that he proved to be qualified for said options).  
  
That night, however, it seemed that discussing the amendments to the law would have to wait, because they both had other things on their minds.   
  
Minister Moon accepted the cup of wine that Jae-shin poured for him and sipped thoughtfully. "When Ka-hai said she was happy here... she wasn't just saying that to spare my feelings, was she?"  
  
"I think she was speaking the truth," he assured his father after giving it some thought. "You _are_ very kind to her, as she said, and she likes you very much."  
  
The older man nodded, mollified, then chuckled. "And how about you? Does she like you at all?"  
  
"Of course she does. If she didn't, then we probably wouldn't—" Cutting himself off, Jae-shin cleared his throat and took a sip of his own wine. "Look, Abeoji, I'll admit that Ka-hai and I hit a few rough patches in the past, but we were still getting to know each other then. I don't know if it's obvious because we still argue with each other, but we get along much better now."  
  
"Then I'll worry when you _stop_ talking to each other." Minister Moon put down his cup and gave his son an inquiring look. "And do you like her?"  
  
"It's a little late to be asking me that, isn't it?" he asked in return. "After all, we're already married."  
  
"Just answer the question."  
  
Jae-shin hid behind the wine bottle for a while, wondering how to do just that. He had talked about women with Yong-ha before, but his side of those conversations had always been about how they gave him the hiccups, made him break out in hives and caused other nervous reactions that may or may not be true. "I guess...." he said slowly. "She likes to make fun of me a little too much and sometimes she can be a nag, but at least she's smart, and she's not silly or boring like a lot of girls can be." He shrugged. "So... I suppose... things could have turned out much worse."  
  
His father looked pleased despite the rambling reply. "I chose well for you, didn't I?"  
  
He couldn't help smiling at that. "Yes, Abeoji, you did."

* * *

Preparing for Minister Moon's birthday celebration meant treading a very fine line: while things had to be simple, because government officials were obligated to set a good example for the people, they also had to be tasteful enough to impress the politicians and businessmen who were attending. With the help of the Moons' servants, Ka-hai strove to strike the right balance and do her father-in-law proud; the fact that her father was coming, too, made her doubly motivated to do well.  
  
Fortunately, everyone in attendance seemed to appreciate their efforts. Minister Moon beamed proudly as he watched his guests eat and drink their fill, and chat pleasantly with each other. "Ka-hai did a wonderful job putting this all together," he said to Lord Cha, seated on his left. "You were absolutely right about her being well-trained."  
  
The other man smiled. "And were you right that my daughter would get along well with your son?"  
  
Minister Moon glanced at his son, who was sitting on his right and trying to discreetly loosen the ties of his hat, and grinned. "Yes, I think I was," he replied.  
  
The fathers had spoken quietly to avoid being overheard by anyone, especially Jae-shin. However, the younger man seemed to sense that something of relevance to him was being discussed, causing him to stop fidgeting and give his father an inquiring look.  
  
"I was just telling my in-law that Ka-hai did a wonderful job with the party," Minister Moon told him. "I wouldn't have thought of hiring musicians."  
  
"Oh. Yes, I suppose she did," Jae-shin agreed, looking at the quartet of gisaengs sitting and playing musical instruments just outside the door. He wasn't an expert on music, but he knew what he liked and this group was actually quite decent. He also had a feeling that Ka-hai had found them with the help of her new friend, Cho-sun.  
  
Suddenly, his wife's face popped into the open doorway, as though summoned by his thoughts. She surveyed the room, then looked at her husband and smiled when she saw him smiling at her.  
  
Her father-in-law saw her, too, and beckoned for her to come in. Blushing, Ka-hai demurred at first, but eventually edged her way inside, giving Lord Cha a warm smile on her way to take a seat by Jae-shin's side.  
  
"My lords and honored guests, this is my daughter-in-law, Cha Ka-hai," Minister Moon announced to the room at large. "She is responsible for everything that we are eating, drinking and seeing tonight."  
  
She bowed low to the guests. "I hope that everything is to your liking," she said to them, her blush deepening when they vociferously assured her that everything was just perfect.  
  
"Please indulge me and allow her to join us for a while," her father-in-law went on. "I think she would be happy to see you enjoying the party, after all her hard work, and a man really should have his family near on his birthday."  
  
Ka-hai smiled shyly as the guests responded that she was more than welcome to stay. "I just peeked in to check if everything was going smoothly," she muttered to Jae-shin. Servants hurried over to bring her her own little table and set it with food and drink.  
  
"You don't have to speak to anyone if you'd rather not," he murmured back. "It will be fine if you just excused yourself after a while."  
  
However, there was no danger of Ka-hai sitting around tongue-tied, because her father was more than happy to engage her in conversation. "Your mother and brothers send their regards," he said, smiling fondly at her. "You are well?"  
  
"I'm very well, Ap—Abeoji," she assured him, remembering at the last minute to address her father more formally in front of company.  
  
"I'm glad to hear that. Nevertheless, we all miss you a lot."  
  
"I miss you, too." Ka-hai looked deferentially at her husband and father-in-law. "Perhaps we can visit my family sometime, Abeonim?"  
  
"I think that's a marvelous idea," Minister Moon replied, nodding. "Jae-shin and I will figure out when we can both accompany you, and we will make arrangements."  
  
She smiled. "Thank you, Abeonim."  
  
Ka-hai had returned to her childhood home a few times since she was married, but neither her husband nor her father-in-law was ever able to accompany her on these trips. It would be nice if all of them could visit this time: spending time in the country would definitely do Minister Moon, whose work never seemed to be done, a world of good; and she could show Jae-shin all her favorite places on the estate (as well as that shed where Ka-sar had been caught frolicking with one of the maids last summer).  
  
"What's so funny?" Jae-shin whispered in her ear.  
  
She came back to earth with a start. "What?"  
  
"You're smiling."  
  
"I am?" Blushing, she managed a light little laugh. "I'm just looking forward to our visit, that's all."  
  
To head off any more questions, she pretended to be interested in the discussion involving the rest of the guests, which turned out to be about King Jeong-jo's plans to improve the laws protecting laborers' rights.  
  
"I think that protecting workers' rights is a fine idea," said one of the businessmen, "but those of us who earn our living in trade must know exactly what is involved before we decide whether or not to support any proposals. If the new law will make it more expensive to pay our workers, we might have to raise our prices and that won't be good for business, especially with free trade that makes it cheaper to just import goods instead of make them ourselves."  
  
"It's true that we must keep costs down and prices low to be able to compete," replied a man whom Jae-shin recognized as the Minister of Commerce, "but our economy is built on the blood and sweat of our laborers. It's only right that some of their interests be considered as well in the crafting of the new laws."  
  
"My lord the Minister is right," said Jae-shin's father-in-law. "I hear my neighbors talking about problems with their tenants all the time, and it seems to me that a lot of those problems could be avoided if they just listened to the people and thought of ways to help them. You can't possibly give your workers everything they want, but I can tell you from experience that a little goodwill can go a long way." He smiled self-deprecatingly. "Now, mine may not be the richest estate in the kingdom, but I daresay I have some of the happiest workers in the area, and happy workers work harder."  
  
"Getting the input of the workers themselves is a novel idea," Minister Moon said. "If we know what they want, and are able to balance this with the interests of our merchants, then we would have a law that is truly responsive to the needs of all."  
  
"How might we do that, though?" another guest asked. "There are hundreds of workers in this city alone. Asking each and every one what they want from the government would take forever."  
  
To Jae-shin's surprise, the next person to speak was the woman at his side. "Why don't you ask the guilds?" Ka-hai blurted out. She blushed when everyone in the room turned to look at her. "I'm sorry for interrupting. Please don't mind me."  
  
"No, go on, my dear," Minister Moon said. "What were you saying about the guilds?"  
  
She looked at him uncertainly, but pressed on when she received encouraging nods from her family. "Well, I-I understand that there are all kinds of workers' guilds in town," she said. "Maybe you can get them to send someone to tell you what their members are thinking. That way, you'll speak to less people, instead of having to see each and every person, and I'm sure they'll pick someone who can express their ideas clearly.  
  
"Besides," she added, "I think it's important to ask the workers themselves about this kind of thing. If they feel that the government is listening to them, then they're more likely to support whatever laws you put together. Like my father said, happy workers work harder."  
  
"That is a very astute observation, Lady Moon," remarked the Minister of Commerce. He didn't sound like he approved, but he didn't sound disapproving, either. "Are you, by any chance, a scholar like your husband?"  
  
"No, my lord," she responded modestly, giving her father a smile. "Just a country girl whose father taught her to keep her eyes and ears open."

* * *

"You did well tonight," Jae-shin said to his wife later that night, after the party had ended and they were lying in bed, nestled together like two friendly (and rather sleepy) spoons.  
  
She gave a satisfied sigh. "The party _was_ very nice, wasn't it?"  
  
He smiled in the darkness. "It was, but I was talking about you speaking up when they were talking about the labor laws."  
  
"Oh." Ka-hai laughed and snuggled deeper into his embrace. "Did I really?" she asked, sounding pleased. "I thought I was going to die when everyone looked at me. I sounded so ridiculous."  
  
"You sounded just fine," he assured her. "Sometimes scholars and government officials forget what it's like out in the real world, so they probably hadn't thought about the guilds until you mentioned them. Besides," he added grimly, "if anyone had laughed, they would have had to answer to me."  
  
"I'm sure you would have been very impressive if that had happened."  
  
"Naturally." Jae-shin smoothed her hair aside and kissed the nape of her neck. "Where did you learn about the guilds, anyway?"  
  
She shifted in his arms as she shrugged. "I hear people mention them in the marketplace, and Yoon-hee lent me this book about the government that talked about giving the people a greater voice in how the kingdom is run. I kind of just put them together," she said on a yawn.  
  
"You're borrowing books from Yoon-hee?" he asked, surprised.  
  
"I do know how to read, you know."  
  
"I'm sure you can read very well, but I just... well, I must admit that I never really pegged you as the reading type."  
  
"You'd see me reading if you didn't make me drop everything and attend to you every time you walk into the room," Ka-hai told him tartly, then relaxed and laughed. "I never had much time for reading out on the farm, so I never got to enjoy it until I came to live here.  
  
"And I actually started with a few books from the Sungkyunkwan library," she went on. "Yoon-hee borrowed them for me. She said you had read every book in there."  
  
"And you believed her?"  
  
"Well, your name _was_ in the little cards in the backs of all the books I read." She sighed and patted the arm he had wrapped around her waist. "What was it like, going to a big university?" she asked then.  
  
"I liked it. Living with other scholars, having classes and athletic contests... it's very different from the world outside." Jae-shin chuckled. "I liked it so much, I failed classes on purpose just to stay longer."  
  
"I'm sure you did it more to annoy your father."  
  
"That was another reason why I did it," he admitted with a grin.  
  
"I bet it was fun going to a place like that," she mused, sounding almost wistful. "I loved growing up in the country, but we were always so busy. It's nice to imagine a place where you mostly just sit around and learn."  
  
"We didn't study purely because we wanted to. Sungkyunkwan is where you go to prepare for the civil service examinations. We went there to learn how to help run the country and serve the people."  
  
"Well, going to class still sounds like a lot more fun than shoveling manure out of the stables."  
  
"When you put it that way, it does," he agreed, laughing. "Unfortunately, you wouldn't have had a choice a few years ago. It was only recently that King Jeong-jo ordered that women be allowed to attend university, too."  
  
"That's all right," his wife said. "It may be too late for me, but not for our children. Maybe we'll have a daughter who'll grow up to become a doctor."  
  
Jae-shin's eyes widened. "Are you trying to tell me something?!" His arm tightened reflexively around her, then loosened again when he remembered that a child might be in there right this minute. "Are you pregnant?"  
  
"What?" she sounded shocked. "No! No... I don't think so. What made you think I was?"  
  
"Your talking about our children, for one thing!"  
  
"Well we're bound to have some someday, aren't we, if everything is working the way it should?" Ka-hai must have felt his heart pounding against her back, because she turned so that she lay facing him. "Are you all right?"  
  
"I'll be fine," he told her, taking a deep breath and willing himself to calm down. "My heart just seized up for a while back there."  
  
"If anyone has a right to have a fit, it's me — after all, _I'll_ be doing all the work." When her retort failed to get a reaction from him, his wife felt around in the dark and leaned over to give him a kiss. "I'm sorry I scared you," she went on in a gentler tone. "If it happens, I promise I'll tell you right away, all right?"  
  
"You had better," he replied, managing a laugh and kissing her back. "Now, we should probably go to sleep."  
  
Jae-shin gathered her close and felt her relax against him as she dropped off into slumber. He wished that he could fall asleep, too, but his brain was still afire from the initial panic. Even though she said she wasn't pregnant (yet), he couldn't help picturing Ka-hai's body ripening with his child, of her cradling a baby in her arms. It led him to wonder whether they would have a son with his skill at archery, or a daughter who would sound just like her mother when she laughed. Perhaps they would even have both.  
  
He blew out a breath and closed his eyes. It was just a false alarm, he told himself as he tried to relax and go to sleep; there would be plenty of time to become a father in the future.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Disclaimer:** Jae-shin's "lack of patience" quote is, according to Google, from Confucius; and the "gadfly/horse" bit from Plato's _Apology_. I like to imagine that Professor Jung has a Korean translation that he shares with his prize pupils :D
> 
>  **Technical Notes:** All the archery info comes from a Google search. Unfortunately, I didn't take note of the site on which I relied the most heavily. I just wanted to assure you that Jae-shin's pointers were rooted in fact!

_Chapter Twelve_  
  
Since it wasn't a serious injury, the wound on Jae-shin's arm healed quickly, but his wife insisted on keeping it covered. "Are you sure it's not coming loose?" Ka-hai asked, rolling up his sleeve to see for herself whether the wrapping was secure.  
  
"It's _fine_ ," he muttered, trying to keep the impatience from his voice.  
  
He probably didn't hide it too well, because she pouted dramatically. "I was only trying to take proper care of my husband," she said in an injured tone.  
  
Jae-shin sighed. "Look, I know that the bandage is to keep the wound clean until it heals, which is why I'm keeping it on; but I've had worse than this, and I survived. Don't worry too much, all right?  
  
"Unless, of course," he added, leaning in to give her a conciliatory kiss, "this is one of those times when you're fussing over me simply because you want me to make you stop."  
  
"I don't do that!" she protested even as a telltale blush stained her cheeks.  
  
He grinned. "If that's the case," he said, as though she hadn't spoken at all, "then you might want to wait until after we get home. I would be setting a poor example for the scholars if I got caught fooling around with a woman on campus, even if she is my wife."  
  
They were standing together on one of the shooter's platforms at the Sungkyunkwan archery range. It was another one of those days wherein the Jalgeum Quartet was free to meet up, and Jae-shin thought that it would be a good idea to bring Ka-hai along and teach her to shoot.  
  
The addition of a fourth meant that Yong-ha could stop pretending to be even remotely interested in archery, and he lounged unabashedly against the railing of the judges' platform behind them. "Hey, Lord and Lady Moon!" he called out as he twirled his bow like a baton. "It's your team's turn to shoot. What's keeping you?"  
  
"Your friend, here, was being ungentlemanly," Ka-hai replied, giving both him and her husband a disgruntled look.  
  
Yong-ha let out a scandalized gasp. "Geol-oh, you naughty, _naughty_ boy!" he admonished. "What kinds of salacious things have you been telling your poor, gently-bred wife?" His expression grew sly. "If you share them with the rest of the class, then maybe our Ga-rang will learn something."  
  
"I'll thank you both not to corrupt my husband any more than you already have," Yoon-hee, standing on the other shooter's platform with Sun-joon, said primly.  
  
"It's purely in the interest of sharing intelligent ideas, my dear," Yong-ha defended himself.  
  
"I don't think it's proper to discuss such things while the ladies are present," Sun-joon told his friends, and broke into a mischievous grin. "Geol-oh sa-hyung can tell me all about them later."  
  
Jae-shin laughed. "It's a deal. Now, I believe it's time for Ka-hai to take her first shot."  
  
He placed his hands on his wife's shoulders to guide her into the proper stance. "Imagine a straight line running from the bull's-eye to where we're standing," he lectured. "Put one foot on either side of that line, shoulder width apart." He nudged one of her feet with his.  
  
Ka-hai giggled. "I thought you said to wait until we got home."  
  
He hiccuped, but managed to look stern. "Pay attention," he said, and brusquely talked her through the correct way to hold a bow and nock an arrow. With his arms around her, he helped her raise the bow and sight the target. "The important thing when you're releasing your arrow is the thrill of anticipation," he murmured in her ear. "Your whole body tightens and you focus entirely on aligning everything — yourself, the arrow, and the bow — to hit your target. Only then can you completely relax your drawing hand."  
  
"You mean like this?" she asked, sending the arrow hurtling into the bull's-eye.  
  
Jae-shin watched, his arms akimbo, as his wife efficiently dispatched several more arrows after their brother. Not all of them hit the bull's-eye, but she managed to achieve a nice grouping around the center of the target.  
  
"Let me guess," Yong-ha drawled, looking vastly amused. "You've done this before."  
  
"I learned together with my brothers so that we could help defend the herds, if we had to," Ka-hai explained. "My mother had the vapors at the idea, but my father insisted on it. That's the way things are done in the Cha family."  
  
"Why didn't you say anything?" her husband grumbled.  
  
"Well, you were so excited to teach me, and it was so sweet of you to offer, that I thought I would humor you for a bit," she replied with a small smile, then bit her lip. "I suppose I should have done a better job of pretending that I was a novice at this."  
  
"You shouldn't have pretended at all." He gestured towards the pair standing on the opposite platform. "Then we could have just gone ahead and beaten Sun-joon and Yoon-hee's team into the ground."  
  
 _"Hey!"_ their opponents chorused in protest.  
  
Ka-hai grinned at their friends, then at Jae-shin. "Well, there's nothing stopping us from doing that now, is there?"

* * *

"Is there anything else that I don't need to teach you?" Jae-shin asked his wife as they rode home after archery practice. After a hotly contested match, they had indeed defeated Sun-joon and Yoon-hee, but didn't win anything because only Yong-ha had been interested in actually betting on the outcome.  
  
Ka-hai thought about it for a few moments, then nodded. "You don't have to teach me how to help horses and cows give birth," she answered, "and you don't have to teach me how to shoot a gun."  
  
Yong-ha, who was tagging along for part of the way, grimaced in distaste. "Helping _anything_ give birth sounds gross."  
  
"City boy," Jae-shin teased his friend, with his best imitation of his wife at her most disdainful.  
  
"It only works when _I_ say that," she laughed. "Anyway, there are worse things that you have to put up with, here in the city." She grimaced as they passed a large pile of refuse that had clearly been there for quite some time. "Like all this garbage everywhere. If you think a farm smells bad, well, this is much worse."  
  
"You should be used to it by now." He grinned and reached over to tweak her nose. "Who knew you country girls had such sensitive noses?"  
  
"It seems especially bad today," Ka-hai said. "I guess the collectors haven't been by."  
  
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, stirring up loose trash, including several stray blue leaflets. She frowned as a particularly grimy one caught on her stirrup. "These stupid papers are the worst," she huffed, kicking it off. "They get into everything. It's such an inconvenience."  
  
Glancing quickly at his friend, Yong-ha hastened to point out, "Uh, those blue papers are messages to the people. They point out what's wrong with society and try to get people to change them."  
  
"That's all very well, but this person should try sending his messages in a different way. It looks like people aren't taking them seriously if they just let them lie around and blow about."  
  
"Maybe they read them and then throw them away when they're done," Jae-shin suggested. "Just because you don't keep the actual piece of paper doesn't mean that you don't take the message to heart."  
  
She shrugged. "Maybe. But I still wish he would just post signs where people can see them instead of making a mess like this. It's such a waste."  
  
"That may be so," Yong-ha chuckled, "but at least the people who make and sell paper and ink, and the garbage collectors get to make some honest money out of it, don't you think?"  
  
Ka-hai laughed briefly, acknowledging the point, and Jae-shin gave his friend a grateful look when she turned away to look at something else. He had stiffened slightly in his saddle when his wife started talking about the Blue Messenger's leaflets. As someone who used to express himself in the exact same way, he couldn't help feeling as though she were attacking him as well.  
  
 _That wasn't the case at all,_ of course, he told himself as they rode on through the streets.  
  
For one thing, she didn't know that he had once been the Red Messenger, so how could she consciously cast aspersions on his past? Besides, now that she mentioned it, he supposed that the leaflets did make a bit of a mess.  
  
The important thing was that Ka-hai wasn't against the idea of working for change in society. (At least, he didn't think that she was.) It was just the way the message was delivered that she didn't like, and that was such a small thing that really didn't need to dwell on it anymore.

* * *

Nevertheless, Ka-hai's words still weighed on his mind when Jae-shin encountered the Blue Messenger a few days later. The Messenger had sought him out on his first day back on patrol and, after making some sort of vague excuse to In-soo, Jae-shin soon found himself sitting on a rooftop not far from Banchon with the draft of her latest piece spread out on his knee.  
  
"What do you think?" she demanded, gesturing towards the paper.  
  
"'Lack of patience, even on small issues, can ruin a sound plan,'" he quoted as he continued to placidly read the leaflet.  
  
She snorted, but clasped her hands together and tried to wait. "I was wondering what had happened to you," she said after several moments of quiet fidgeting.  
  
"I got wounded while on patrol, so my commander put me on desk duty until I was better again."  
  
"So... does this mean you're all better?"  
  
"I'm absolutely fine," he answered a little impatiently. "It was just a scratch, but my commander tends to over-react." Thinking about Sergeant Ho led Jae-shin to wonder whether he should have stayed out of government, but then he remembered Headmaster Choi at Sungkyunkwan and supposed that there would be no escaping the syncophants who kowtowed to people like him and Sun-joon because of their family connections.  
  
"That's good. And what's even better," the Blue Messenger added briskly, "is that it was your arm and not your eyes." She gestured towards the paper. "Are you done reading that yet? What do you think?"  
  
"It's all right," Jae-shin told her, handing back the draft with an approving smile. "I think you're putting a lot more thought into your words now. It shows."  
  
"Really?" Her eyes above the mask crinkled with pleasure, then flattened warily just moments later. "What's the catch?"  
  
"I was just getting to that," he chuckled. "The catch is that you still tend to jump from topic to topic with every message. Why don't you try choosing a subject and writing a series about it before moving on to the next one? It makes it easier for the people to follow what you're thinking."  
  
As he spoke, Jae-shin supposed that it was easy for him to say such things — the Red Messenger's writings had generally centered on how the government, specifically the Noron hegemony, suppressed the truth. However, an organized approach was definitely not a bad idea, especially since the Blue Messenger seemed bent on tackling a broader range of issues than he had.  
  
"But you just said my writing's much better."  
  
"It is, but it can always improve even more." He raised his eyebrows mildly when she shot him a glare. "Hey, since you asked for my advice, I assumed you were willing to listen."  
  
 _"Fine,"_ she grumbled. "I'll consider it. Is that all?"  
  
He paused. "I suppose there _is_ one more thing... have you ever thought about just posting your messages on walls? You know, instead of scattering leaflets like you do?"  
  
The Messenger frowned. "Why?"  
  
Jae-shin shrugged. "Leaflets sort of make a mess, don't they?" he ventured. "And I'm sure writing all those messages can be a pain sometimes." It had certainly annoyed him a few times, but not enough to make him stop.  
  
"That's true, but the leaflets get people's attention and it makes them want to read my messages. If I just stick something on a wall, especially secretly, they might just walk by and not notice."  
  
"Well... maybe you'd still want to think about it," he pressed lamely. The more he tried to argue, the sillier it sounded. "I mean, it might clean up the city and that would be good for everyone, right?"  
  
"I guess I could try and think about that, too," she said.  
  
It was plain from the tone of her voice that she didn't really plan to do that, but Jae-shin supposed that he had done enough to try and change her mind, so he decided not to push it. "You do that. So," he went on, getting to his feet and dusting himself off, "are we done? Can I go home now?"  
  
"Someone seems to be in a hurry." Seeing an opportunity to needle him, the Blue Messenger gave him a sly glance. "Are you in a hurry to get home to your wife?"  
  
"That's none of your business."  
  
"Of course it is. I helped you fix things with her, didn't I? I guess it worked, huh?" she observed smugly.  
  
"That's right, it did," he retorted, starting towards the edge of the roof where he could jump safely down onto the street below. Before he left, he turned and quirked a sardonic eyebrow at the Messenger. "See what happens when you're open to listening to people's advice?"

* * *

A few days later, the air was once again filled with fluttering blue leaflets, reminding Sergeant Ho that Jae-shin and In-soo's investigation was going nowhere. "I know you think that this Blue Messenger is a woman with some degree of education," the commanding officer told his men, "but thanks to the king's reforms, there are hundreds of people answering that description in this city. What else have you got for me?"  
  
"Professor Jung has also verified that the Messenger isn't a Sungkyunkwan scholar," In-soo reminded him, "but we know that narrows the search only a little."  
  
"And nothing more?" he demanded.  
  
In-soo glanced at Jae-shin, who shook his head. "No, sir," he said curtly. "I've analyzed the evidence backwards and forwards, but there's nothing."  
  
It was hardly the way to address a superior officer; but fortunately Sergeant Ho interpreted this as frustration over the stalled investigation and, recognizing a chance to worm his way into Jae-shin's (and Minister Moon's) good graces, abruptly changed his tone. "Don't be too hard on yourself, Detective," he soothed. "I'm sure that you and Detective Ha here are doing your very best. We'll close this case eventually."  
  
Jae-shin ducked his head, mumbling an assent.  
  
His attitude wasn't because he was frustrated over the lack of progress in the investigation. He was actually glad that the police hadn't come any closer to apprehending the Blue Messenger, and angry at himself for feeling that way.  
  
Working on this case brought back unpleasant memories of when he had been the one being hunted down. In fact, he supposed that the police were technically after him, too, since he had effectively made himself an accomplice to the Blue Messenger instead of arresting her as he should.  
  
He'd had plenty of opportunities to arrest her, of course, and doing so would be good for his career; but he couldn't bring himself to do it. Jae-shin understood only too well what drove people to cast their thoughts to the winds, and despite his commitment to serve and protect, a part of him still believed that the Messenger and people like her should be allowed to act as gadflies, using their words and arrows to sting the great horse that was Joseon into action.

* * *

Perhaps he should have disqualified himself from the Blue Messenger case from the very beginning, Jae-shin thought bleakly as he made his way home. At the time that the case was assigned to him and In-soo, he had believed that his past was an asset, that it could help him capture the Messenger, bring the case to a swift conclusion and earn professional accolades for himself and his partner. Little did he know that this was actually a liability in that it brought his personal biases and professional dedication in direct conflict with each other.  
  
Unfortunately, he realized that turning down the assignment would not have been a good idea, either. It might have led his superiors to question him and perhaps find out that one of the rising stars on the force, who also happened to be Minister of Justice's only son and heir, had once been Joseon's most wanted.  
  
Jae-shin took a deep breath, willing the heaviness inside him to go away, as he walked into his and Ka-hai's bedroom. The chamber was empty, but on the way there, he had heard his wife's voice coming from the kitchens. The prospect of a good meal cheered him a bit.  
  
She entered the room after he finished changing out of his uniform. "Oh, you're home!"  
  
"That's right," he confirmed needlessly, accepting a peck on the cheek. "I see you went shopping today," he added, nodding at the small pile of parcels against one wall.  
  
"Yes, I ran some errands," Ka-hai said as she untied the apron from around her waist and tossed it in with the rest of the dirty laundry. "I tried to find you, but one of the other officers I did find said you weren't on patrol today."  
  
"No, I wasn't. I was on desk duty, and there were a couple of meetings."  
  
"Too bad. I was going to ask you if you wanted me to wait for you so we could go home together."  
  
He smiled faintly as he sat down by the lamp to do some reading. "Maybe next time."  
  
Jae-shin turned back to his reading, and the sound of her unwrapping things and murmuring to herself faded away as he lost himself in the words on the page.  
  
He came crashing back to earth when she flung one of her packages to the floor. "What's wrong?" he demanded, sitting bolt upright. "Are you all right?"  
  
"I'm fine," she replied, although she sounded very irritated. "It's just those stupid blue papers again. A bunch of them got packed in with the sewing thread that I bought. I told you they get into everything."  
  
Jae-shin sighed inwardly. Just when he thought that he could take a break from it all.... "I guess they're supposed to," he murmured. "The Blue Messenger has a lot to say, and s— _he_ obviously thinks that the leaflets will get people's attention."  
  
"I think they're more of a nuisance than anything else." She snatched up a leaflet and skimmed it with a scowl. "I'm sure that the Blue Messenger puts in a lot of effort making these things, but he'd probably be better off doing something productive."  
  
"Like what, exactly?" he asked, beginning to frown as well.  
  
Ka-hai shrugged and tossed the leaflet into the pile of wrapping paper that was going to be thrown away. "Well, if he knows so much about improving society, then maybe he should actually go do it instead of just writing about it."  
  
"Making things better isn't just about taking action when you have an idea. You also need to change people's minds, plant the idea in their heads so that they'll support you."  
  
"I think people find this a nuisance more than anything else."  
  
"That's not true! I know that they read those things." At least, he seemed to recall that the Red Messenger's writings had set the people's minds afire. "Maybe not all of them, but some do, and if the messages reach even just a few people, then it's worth it."  
  
She looked at him, startled by his outburst. "All right, perhaps some people _do_ read these things," she acknowledged. "But can't the Blue Messenger reach just those people and leave the rest of the public out if it?"  
  
"You can't just reach a few if you want things to change," he told her, an impatient bite to his words. "Society involves everyone, so everyone should be informed, whether they like it or not. It's the apathetic ones who choose to ignore what's going on around them who truly don't act."  
  
"Are you calling me apathetic?"  
  
Jae-shin set his jaw and said nothing. He hadn't been thinking about her when those words had flown out of his mouth; but to be perfectly honest, it seemed appropriate given the way she was acting.  
  
Ka-hai stiffened at her husband's silence. "You are! I can't believe that after living with me all this time, you think I don't care!"  
  
"Well, do you?" he challenged her.  
  
"Of course I do! You might think that I'm some silly yangban housewife who plays at being a farm girl, Moon Jae-shin, but you couldn't be farther from the truth. Look at this." She thrust out a hand, showing him a palm that had remained callused even after she had traded her old life for a much more privileged one as a married woman. "My brothers and I trained horses and cleaned out stables with my father's workers not because it was fun, but because if we didn't do our part, we would go hungry.  
  
"I know what the lives of the poor can be like," she spat, "and maybe I can't make money rain in the streets like your almighty Blue Messenger does with those papers, but I give and do what I can to try and make things better!"  
  
"That's not the same thing. It's all very well," he added, in what to her ears sounded like an infuriatingly patronizing tone, "but the Blue Messenger is trying to get the people to think about what's going on in society and dream about a better life."  
  
"Can people eat dreams? Do dreams keep them warm at night? Oh, it's not a bad thing to dream, of course," she said, mimicking his tone, "but you can't make them come true if you're starving to death!"  
  
The sarcasm wasn't lost on Jae-shin and he glared at her. Why was she being so obstinate about this? Why wouldn't she just listen to him? "You don't understand!"  
  
"And _you_ do?"  
  
 _"Yes!"_  
  
She flushed angrily. "I may not be half as educated as you, Moon Jae-shin, but I don't need to go to a fancy school to know that society's ills can't be fixed simply by scattering papers all over town."  
  
"I just tried to explain—never mind." Fed up with trying to defend what the Blue Messenger stood for — what _he_ stood for — he threw his book aside and jumped to his feet. "If that's what you want to believe, then fine. I hope that just throwing money at the problem works for you."  
  
He quit the room without another word, leaving the door rattling in its frame behind him.

* * *

It felt strange not to wake up in Jae-shin's arms the next morning — strange, and literally terrible.  
  
Upon waking, Ka-hai sat up in bed and was immediately assailed by a wave of dizziness so overwhelming that it compelled her to lie down again and wait for it pass.  
  
She was slowly hoisting herself back to a sitting position when Kwan-sook entered the bedroom. Seeing her mistress struggling, the maid hurriedly set aside the wash water that she carried and rushed to help her to her feet. "Are you all right, my lady?" she whispered.  
  
Ka-hai glanced at her husband, who slept on, undisturbed by Kwan-sook's arrival. She noticed that he was sleeping with back to her and wrapped up in his blankets for once, as if trying to put as much distance between them as possible without moving out of their bedroom, and tamped down the sick feeling that threatened to well up inside her anew. She was short on sleep and feeling bad about their argument. That had to be it.  
  
"I'm fine," she assured her maid, making her way gingerly towards the washstand to begin her morning ablutions. "Just give me a minute."


	13. Chapter 13

_Chapter Thirteen_  
  
Jae-shin wasn't feeling too good, either.  
  
It had been a week since the argument with his wife, and the coolness between them showed no signs of dissipating. The lingering tension, coupled with the need to present a united front and keep Minister Moon from worrying, was taking its toll on his disposition. As a result, instead of taking his ease indoors as he was entitled to in his own home, he spent most of his time in the garden, brooding on Young-shin's rock until it was time to go indoors for meals or bed.  
  
The temptation to reach out to Ka-hai and make everything all right again was strong. Even though he believed that he was in the right this time, there was a hollow feeling inside him that hadn't been there the first time they'd had a serious argument. Perhaps, he thought, it was because they were much closer now compared to then. He missed that feeling of intimacy, and not just in the physical sense.  
  
However, Jae-shin refused to be the first to break. This wasn't a game; the stakes were much higher and it wasn't anywhere as fun as the games they played sometimes, in bed or out of it. It also wasn't a matter of pride — hadn't he once spoken first, after that misunderstanding about her childhood friend coming to visit? He admitted (eventually) that he had been wrong then. This time, it was she who needed to take responsibility for her errors.  
  
Just then, he saw his wife walk past a window that looked out into the garden. Like him, she had spent the past week going about with an abstracted air, and he liked to believe that it was because their argument weighed heavily on her mind and she was thinking about how to apologize.  
  
Deep down, he hoped that it would be soon.

* * *

Once she was out of sight, Ka-hai paused to lean on a pillar and take a few deep breaths. The smells in the kitchen seemed particularly noxious that day, and it was only by sheer force of will that she had been able to finish supervising dinner preparations as though nothing was wrong.  
  
It had been a week and she wasn't feeling any better. There were a number of possible explanations for why she felt so unwell, including one that was presently still too terrifying to contemplate. With great effort, she shook off the nausea and continued on her way to the bedroom that she still shared with her husband.  
  
A possible explanation that she was at least willing to consider was that this was her body's way of telling her to make amends with Jae-shin. By now, it was obvious that their discussion that night had affected him deeply, and she felt bad about that.  
  
 _But,_ she thought as she entered their bedroom and knelt by the washstand to splash water on her face, _how am I going to apologize when I don't know what I had said wrong?_ Wasn't it true that things happened only when you actually did something; that the only way to benefit from a good idea was to act on it? Since he understood how the whole thing worked, why didn't her husband just explain it to her instead of getting angry as he had? More importantly, why was he defending the Blue Messenger when, as a police officer, he was supposed to be against him? Just thinking about the events of that night made her feel angry and frustrated all over again.  
  
Besides, Jae-shin wasn't completely blameless in all of this. Ka-hai's mouth thinned as she dried her face with a towel and dampened the same cloth to sponge her arms and the back of her neck. He had misunderstood her, too, and no one wanted to feel as though the things they were doing to help other people were worthless. She was fairly sure that they mattered, too, even if just to the few that she was able to help.  
  
Yes, she would apologize when she understood why it was necessary, but she wasn't the only one who had to do so.

* * *

The tension at home bled into Jae-shin's work as well, and he wasn't in the best of moods when he sought out Bok-soo on the Sungkyunkwan campus to check if he had found out anything.  
  
The younger man shook his head ruefully. "I'm sorry, but no one's talking."  
  
"No one's talking," Jae-shin repeated skeptically, "or you're just not telling me what they've told you?"  
  
He frowned. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
The conversation swiftly went downhill from there, with Jae-shin badgering Bok-soo about hiding the Blue Messenger's identity, and the other man insisting that he really, truly knew nothing. Bok-soo scowled when Jae-shin questioned him for the fourth straight time. "But if I _did_ know something," he said, "maybe I wouldn't tell you anyway, not with the way you're acting!"  
  
Jae-shin scowled as well. "Is that an admission of guilt?"  
  
Fortunately, Yong-ha was also on campus to pay Sun-joon and Yoon-hee a visit, and came across the pair before they came to blows. "You'll have to excuse our friend, here, Bok-soo," he intervened, his smooth words a contrast to the difficulty with which he pulled the combatants apart. "Even after all these years, I don't think he's completely housebroken yet."  
  
The former thief glared at Jae-shin over Yong-ha's violently orange shoulder. Besides anger, there was disappointment in his eyes. "That's for damn sure. He still has a thing or two to learn about working well with others, especially people he actually depends on."  
  
"Don't worry, just leave that to me. You should probably go back to work — I think I saw the headmaster coming this way."  
  
"I'll do that." Bok-soo nodded curtly to him and, with a final dagger stare at Jae-shin, stalked away, muttering to himself.  
  
"It's a good thing I stepped in before you two started hitting each other," Yong-ha remarked to his friend after the campus guard had gone. "No way was I getting involved if you had actually already started whaling away. I'm a lover, you know, not a fighter."  
  
Ordinarily, one of his friend's jokes would have been enough to drive Jae-shin to crack a smile, but that day he simply glowered and remained stonily silent.  
  
Yong-ha promptly switched to a more direct approach when he failed to get a reaction. "What in the world were you thinking?" he demanded, swatting his friend's arm with his fan. "Have you forgotten that the king himself told Bok-soo to keep an eye on us? What if he tells His Majesty that you're abusing your position or something like that?"  
  
"I'm not abusing my position," Jae-shin growled. "He's blocking an official investigation."  
  
"How are you so sure about that? Maybe he really doesn't know anything about whatever it is you're asking him."  
  
"Something tells me that he knows more than he's letting on."  
  
"Well, you won't know that for sure unless you torture the information out of him, and he'll definitely go to the king if you do that." Yong-ha smiled bracingly and slung an arm across his shoulders. "Look, you're obviously having a bad day. Why don't you stop by the shop for a drink and we can talk about this?"  
  
Jae-shin didn't want to talk about anything, but he also knew that his friend would never take "no" for an answer, so he allowed himself to be hustled off-campus and over to Yong-ha's fashion empire. There, a servant was promptly dispatched to bring them food and drink. Watching the servant jump to do Yong-ha's bidding reminded Jae-shin of the staff at home, and then of Ka-hai, which made him feel awful all over again.  
  
"Now," Yong-ha said when they were settled in and the servant had taken his leave, "what's going on?"  
  
"Nothing," he replied curtly. "I'm just under a lot of pressure at work, that's all." He reached for the wine bottle, but the other man grabbed it away before he could get to it. "I see that you still have the habit of inviting people over for drinks... and then not letting them have any."  
  
"Something is terribly wrong with you, Geol-oh," Yong-ha declared, hiding the bottle behind his back. "You might as well tell me what it is if you want to have a moment's peace. And I _know_ that it's not the Blue Messenger case," he added before Jae-shin could insist that it was. "You've been working on that case for months and it's never affected you like this before. It's something else."  
  
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "If you must know, Ka-hai and I had an argument."  
  
"About what? Have you been leaving the lid off the chamber pot or something?" His friend grimaced. "That's disgusting."  
  
"No," Jae-shin said irritably. "She just really doesn't like what the Blue Messenger does."  
  
"Because it's untidy?"  
  
"Because it's _unproductive_."  
  
"And in calling the Blue Messenger 'unproductive,'" Yong-ha concluded, "it felt as though she were calling _you_ unproductive, too, right? Does Ka-hai know that you also used to run around, scattering leaflets all over town?" he asked when the other man grunted.  
  
"No."  
  
"Well, why don't you tell her so? If she knew about that, then maybe she'd change her opinion."  
  
"Why would I do that?" Jae-shin scoffed. "You heard her talk that day we were in town — it's obvious that she doesn't think very highly of that kind of thing. Besides, it's all in the past," he added shortly. "There's no need to bring it up again now."  
  
"Even if it's all in the past," Yong-ha pointed out, "the Red Messenger still seems to be a big part of who you are, and something that your wife should know."

* * *

As luck would have it, Ka-hai's father-in-law took her and her husband on that long-awaited trip to the Cha estate before she could sort everything out. Besides wanting to return to her childhood home, even for just a while, she also wanted to show her family that she was doing quite well as a wife; and she hoped that Jae-shin wouldn't ruin everything by being rude to her in front of everyone.  
  
To her relief, he played along at being happily married despite the fact that they had barely said a word to each other since the night of the disagreement. He wasn't overly affectionate (and it just occurred to her that she might have overdone the charade the first time) and was even a little bit reserved in his manner; but he spoke politely when spoken to and even addressed her directly a few times, and that was more than she could have hoped for given their situation.  
  
However, it seemed that their best efforts probably weren't good enough. "Your husband seems... distant," Lady Kang observed when mother and daughter had withdrawn for a private chat. "Is anything wrong with the two of you?"  
  
"What? Oh, no!" Ka-hai shook her head, hoping that she wasn't blushing guiltily. "Jae-shin is working on something very important, so he's rather preoccupied." She gave a weak laugh; her words were at least partly true. "He gets like that sometimes. I suppose it may seem strange to other people, but I'm used to it."  
  
"Well, I hope you're not chattering too much," her mother warned. "Doing such work will probably help his career, and a proper wife should be supportive."  
  
She ducked her head, partly in acknowledgment and partly out of guilt. She hadn't been very supportive on the night that they had argued. "I know, Omoni."  
  
"You should be good to your husband. Your father and brothers say that your home is a fine one."  
  
"Oh, it is, Omoni." Ka-hai nodded fervently, and, hoping to distract her mother, added, "You must come and visit me sometime. I'm sure that both Appa and Abeonim will allow it if we asked them."  
  
Unfortunately, the distraction proved futile. "There, you see?" Lady Kang went on. "Not only are you in charge of a large house without any mother- or sister-in-law to please, but you also have a father-in-law who is very kind to you. There are many girls who could only hope to live your life. You don't want to lose all of that."  
  
"No, Omoni, I don't." At that point, she wanted nothing more than to run screaming from the room, but she willed herself to stay put. Her mother meant well, and if she had any advice on how to keep her husband happy, Ka-hai would gladly sit through an eternity of lectures to hear it. "I promise you, I'll do my best. I know I'm very lucky in this match that you and Appa were able to make for me."  
  
The next words flew out of her mouth before she had time to think about them.  
  
"And I really, truly want to be a good wife to Jae-shin. I love him."

* * *

 _I love him._  
  
Her legs were unsteady as she left the room after the excruciating interview. While fielding her mother's questions, Ka-hai seized on the idea to invite Jae-shin on a walk. Now, she didn't feel as though it would be a very good idea.  
  
She knew, of course, that it would help keep up the pretense that everything was all right in their marriage. It was just that she didn't know whether she would be able to be alone with him, given that she currently felt so very vulnerable.  
  
While she was lost in these thoughts, her feet carried her directly to where her husband lay napping in one of the rooms overlooking the garden where they had taken their first stroll together. Judging from the silence pervading the house, it seemed that the rest of the menfolk had decided to take naps as well.  
  
Jae-shin awoke the moment he heard someone step into the room. Upon opening his eyes and seeing it was his wife, his first impulse was to smile; but as he became more awake, he managed to remember that they weren't getting along very well at the moment, and he assumed the coolly polite air with which he addressed her these days. "Yes?" he asked, his voice slightly thick from sleep.  
  
Ka-hai cleared her throat and put on a pleasant expression. "I was wondering if I could interest you in a walk," she replied. "Just the two of us.  
  
"Of course," she added when he said nothing, "it's fine with me if you would rather sleep." Her cheeks turned pink. "I'm sorry I disturbed you."  
  
His heart skipped a beat when he heard her say "sorry," but it sank again at the realization that the apology had nothing to do with their disagreement. He shook his head, as if to clear it, and sat up. "No, it's fine," he said. "I'll go."  
  
They put on their shoes and exited the house in silence. For Ka-hai, it wasn't the quiet that was the problem. She spent certain parts of a usual day by herself, only imagining that Jae-shin was watching over her shoulder. The problem was that this time, he was actually present; and despite the current situation between them, she felt compelled to actually make conversation.  
  
"You've already seen this part of the grounds," she said. "I was thinking to take you elsewhere, so you can see more of the place while we're still here."  
  
"All right."  
  
As they moved quickly through the garden and towards the stables, Ka-hai reflected that there was a lot that she had to say, and this was probably the perfect opportunity to say it all. However, all the words stuck in her throat and refused to come out.  
  
She didn't want to explain that going on this walk was supposed to ease any doubts about the state of her marriage. Judging from the way he had been cooperating with her every time they were in their parents' company, he understood that this was part of the charade. Perhaps he could even appreciate that taking a walk also got them away from any curious stares or awkward questions.  
  
"These are the western stables. The horses that my father gave me for my dowry are kept here. Do you mind if we stop and take a look at them?"  
  
"Not at all."  
  
Ka-hai also didn't want to apologize for offending him that night. She had run through the conversation backwards and forwards, and was tired of trying to figure out what she might have said wrong — especially now that there were other important things demanding her attention.  
  
"This stallion here is Chul-moo's sire, Dong-moo. You'll notice they look a lot alike."  
  
"Yes, I can see that."  
  
Speaking of things demanding her attention, she didn't want to tell him about her suspicion that she was breeding. As the possible father-to-be, Jae-shin had every right to know; but they definitely needed to settle their differences instead of just covering them up with a distraction, however welcome it might be.  
  
Besides, she wasn't even completely sure of it yet.  
  
She would tell him when she was sure and they were on speaking terms again. On the other hand, if they _didn't_ make up, then surely he would realize that she was pregnant when it began to show... or when she actually presented him with the infant.  
  
"This is where we train and exercise the horses. My father taught me to ride here."  
  
"I see."  
  
Ka-hai definitely didn't want to tell Jae-shin that she loved him. A very big part of her believed that she needed time to come to terms with that fact. She also feared giving him that sort of power over her, especially now that they were in the middle of an argument.  
  
Only a small part of her was giddy over the realization that she adored him even though he was occasionally grumpy, needed to be reminded to clean up after himself, and things weren't very pleasant between them right now. That part wanted very badly to to shout from the rooftops and dance with delight.  
  
Instead of dancing with delight, though, she slipped on a loose stone in her path and would have fallen if Jae-shin hadn't steadied her with an arm around her shoulders.  
  
"Are you all right?" he asked, startled. He wasn't quite sure, but his wife seemed alternately preoccupied and skittish today; and he wondered whether it meant that she was preparing to finally swallow her pride and apologize.  
  
However, if she was, she wasn't going to do so at that very moment. "I'm fine," she replied stiffly, regaining her footing and shaking off his arm. "Thank you for your help."  
  
He sighed silently as she dusted herself off and kept walking, her carriage painfully straight. Despite the ongoing difficulties in their marriage, it had been nice to have an excuse to hold her again, however briefly.  
  
For her part, Ka-hai proceeded with caution, studiously avoiding his gaze, just in case he might be able to guess that she loved him just by looking at her, and making sure that there were no further opportunities for her to fall into his arms and break her resolve not to say anything.  
  
She led him past the shed that she had once thought about showing him. She didn't say a word.

* * *

Unlike the Chas, who had more or less fallen for the show that Jae-shin and Ka-hai put on during their visit, Minister Moon could tell that the couple had hit another rough patch. The steward reported that they had been heard arguing, and Jae-shin was once again going around looking grim. The most telling sign, however, was that they barely spoke at the dinner table anymore, at least on the increasingly rare occasions that the younger Lord Moon was present to dine with his father and his wife; he had begun working late again.  
  
Minister Moon told himself that he shouldn't interfere in the children's affairs, and took consolation in the knowledge that Jae-shin and Ka-hai weren't screaming at each other every night, and that they still shared a bedroom.  
  
However, like many well-meaning parents, he couldn't resist prying and decided to see what he could get out of his daughter-in-law. The tension appeared to be taking its toll on the poor girl, who was looking increasingly tired and ill.  
  
(Whatever he found out would be purely for his own information at this point, of course. Action would be taken only if it was deemed meritorious — that is, when Minister Moon began to grow tired of the situation, which might not be too far off. He was still the head of this family, after all.)  
  
"If you don't mind my saying, my dear," he observed gently one morning, when Ka-hai came to pay her respects and bring him his breakfast, "you're looking a bit peaked. Are you all right?"  
  
Of course, she assured him, "I'm fine, Abeonim. Please don't worry."  
  
"Are you sure? Is everything all right with your family back home?"  
  
"Oh, yes. They're doing quite well, thank you."  
  
He peered at her. "Jae-shin isn't troubling you?"  
  
She paused, her hesitation brief but telling, then recovered enough to chuckle softly. "No more than usual."  
  
From the tone of her voice, Minister Moon knew that that was all she was going to say on the matter. He supposed that he should be pleased that she was trying to spare him from worry, but he also knew all too well that hiding things didn't make the problem go away. "But you do know," he told her, "that you can always come to me for help if you have any problems, do you not? You're my responsibility now, as well as your husband's."  
  
Blinking back the tears that always seemed to threaten these days, Ka-hai nodded in acknowledgment. She also couldn't help thinking wryly that she did not need any more signs that her mother was right about how fortunate she was in her married life. "I do. Thank you, Abeonim."  
  
Her father-in-law nodded. "I'm still a bit worried about you, though," he said. "You need to take better care of yourself. Perhaps you should stop doing this and get more sleep in the mornings. I wouldn't want you to get sick on my account."  
  
"I'm quite sure, Abeonim, that I'm not sick," she replied with a strained laugh. As the days went by, and after carefully reading through her new book on women's health, it was becoming more and more obvious what was ailing her. "I think... I think I'm going to have a baby."  
  
Despite her mixed feelings on the subject (and, indeed, on everything these days), she couldn't help laughing again, more genuinely this time, when Minister Moon's face lit up. " _Really?_ How long? Does Jae-shin know?"  
  
Ka-hai blushed. "Please don't say anything about this to Jae-shin, Abeonim. I want to be sure first before I tell him. If I'm right, then it hasn't been for very long."  
  
"Of course, my dear," he said eagerly. "You have my word. A husband should always find out directly from his wife, after all. Yes, you should definitely get more rest in the mornings," he declared. "And you should see a physician as soon as possible. The sooner we are certain, the better."


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Technical Notes:** There are a number of explanations for why Yoon-hee and Sun-joon have remained childless until now. I think any one of them works. I just chose not to go into detail here, because I'm sure Sun-joon knows better than to discuss such intimate matters with outsiders, even if they're his closest male friends.
> 
> I have no idea what the Yongsan district was called during the Joseon era, so I'm calling it by its contemporary name. I also don't know if it was a poor neighborhood at the time - I just know that it's sandwiched between the Sungkyunkwan campus and the Han river, which makes it suited to the purposes of this story.
> 
> Also, although the police in SKKS mainly used swords, bows and arrows, there was at least one scene where they used guns so Jae-shin's team is perfectly entitled to pack some heat. Besides, according to Wikipedia, there were already guns in Korea at the time.

_Chapter Fourteen  
  
Now, I know that I'm pregnant._  
  
Ka-hai hadn't seen a doctor yet, but after confirming with Kwan-sook (and swearing her to secrecy) it seemed that she had already missed two periods in a row. That, and the fact that she was experiencing most of the symptoms described in her medical texts, meant that a proper examination would probably be but a mere formality.  
  
Chul-moo nudged her shoulder and she heard herself chuckle over the pounding of her heart. "I'm sorry," she told the horse, "but I can't go riding today. You're lucky I can even stand to be around horses, with the way I've been feeling."  
  
Of course, he didn't understand any of that, and stepped closer as if to make it easier for her to mount up.  
  
"I said I can't," she repeated, combing her fingers through his mane. "First, I have to make sure that it won't harm the baby."  
  
Her voice caught on the last word. Up until that moment, she had never acknowledged her condition out loud. Actually speaking of the child was like uttering a magic spell that placed it physically inside her body... and irrevocably changed the way she saw herself.  
  
 _And the only one to hear it was a horse._ Ka-hai's eyes filled and she buried her face in Chul-moo's neck so that she could let the tears fall.  
  
Had things been better between her and Jae-shin, she would have told him the moment she became suspicious that she was pregnant. He probably would have been shocked at first, but she was sure that he would have been overjoyed later and insisted on being the one to break the happy news to his father. Sadly, husband and wife weren't speaking to each other and he was burying himself in his work, so he didn't know that they were going to be parents.  
  
 _I won't cry. I won't._  
  
Even though she wanted nothing more than to wallow in self-pity for a little while longer, Ka-hai willed herself to stop. Despite her sadness and worry over the state of her relationship with Jae-shin, acknowledging her pregnancy meant that she now needed to be strong, put those worries aside and focus on caring for herself and the baby. It may have been begun at a difficult time in her marriage, but it was definitely wanted and it would be loved, regardless of whatever happened between her and the baby's father.  
  
She laughed self-consciously as she wiped her eyes on her sleeve. "Omo," she muttered, "I think I'm going to be one of those terribly weepy pregnant women. However are you going to stand me?"

* * *

While Ka-hai came to terms with the fact that she was carrying a child, Jae-shin found himself caught up in his work. Having nothing else more important to occupy their time and, as always, wanting to curry favor with the king, the higher-ups at the Ministry of War had told the police in no uncertain terms that the Blue Messenger case had to be closed, and soon.  
  
It was clear to Jae-shin that In-soo took the added pressure as a personal affront. Of course, his partner was too much of a professional to make his feelings known to his superiors; instead, he threw himself into bringing the Blue Messenger to justice as soon as possible. "Instead of tracking her down," he proposed at the staff meeting that day, "why don't we force her to come to us by setting a trap?"  
  
"What kind of trap would that be, Detective Ha?" Sergeant Ho asked him.  
  
"All that the Blue Messenger really does is scatter subversive messages among the people, right?" the younger man replied. "What if there was a copycat, who was doing something else, like robbery, or vandalism? Wouldn't that drive the real Blue Messenger to confront the fake and clear her name among the people?"  
  
His partner bowed his head to hide a smirk. Although he might not know it, In-soo was taking a page right out of his father's book — Jae-shin remembered all too well how the former Minister Ha had used a fake Red Messenger to try and draw him out.  
  
"I don't know," one of the other officers said dubiously. "Would it?"  
  
"It should," In-soo declared. "I think that anyone, if they're sane, would feel very strongly about another person besmirching their name or reputation; and if the Blue Messenger is a woman like we suspect, then she would be more emotional and would thus fall more easily into our trap. And once we flush her out," he concluded, "then we can catch her."  
  
Based on his own experience, Jae-shin wasn't sure if that last part was true, but he had to admit that the plan had a good chance of leading the Blue Messenger into their hands. Although the Ministry's attempts to capture him using a false Red Messenger as bait turned out to be futile, he hadn't been able to resist the temptation to go up against the impostor.  
  
"That sounds like it's worth a try, at least," Sergeant Ho said, and scanned the officers gathered around the table. "Do we have any volunteers to pose as the Blue Messenger?"  
  
"Actually, if I may, Sergeant," In-soo interjected mildly. "I would like to nominate Detective Moon Jae-shin as the fake Blue Messenger."  
  
Jae-shin's head jerked up. _"What?!"_  
  
The commanding officer looked surprised. "Moon Jae-shin? Why?"  
  
"I think he's the perfect man for the job, sir," In-soo replied innocently, appearing oblivious to the dagger stares from his partner. "Detective Moon is very athletic and an excellent archer, besides. Why," he added, "he may very well have been a burglar before he became a police officer."  
  
"A burglar!" Sergeant Ho laughed uproariously, and the other officers at the table followed his lead. "What a crazy idea! Were you ever a burglar, Detective Moon?"  
  
"No, sir," Jae-shin answered. "As you and Detective Ha both know, I was a Sungkyunkwan scholar before I entered the force."  
  
Eventually, the older man calmed. "I think Detective Ha is right about your abilities, though," he said as he dabbed a tear from his eye. "You would make a very convincing Blue Messenger."  
  
There were nods of agreement all around and In-soo turned to his partner, his eyes artlessly wide. "What do you think, Jae-shin?" he asked. "Will you do your part in bringing this most wanted criminal to justice, so that we can close the case and I can finally start planning my wedding?"  
  
While it felt as though the trap was closing in around _him_ as well as the Blue Messenger, all that Jae-shin could do was give In-soo one last glare and grunt, "Fine. I'll do it."

* * *

"Wedding?" Yong-ha repeated, and gave an impressed whistle. "So they're finally going through with it. After more than fifteen long years of waiting, Ha In-soo is finally going to get his woman."  
  
"Did you say _fifteen_ years?" Sun-joon asked, puzzled.  
  
"Yes. He's been in love with Cho-sun since he was eleven."  
  
"Oh." The scholarly young man's face broke into a smile. "It sounds like it's definitely about time, then."  
  
Scenting the opportunity for new business, Yong-ha turned to Jae-shin, who was picking up another arrow. "Hey, Geol-oh," he called, "maybe you could remind In-soo where Cho-sun should be going for wedding clothes?"  
  
"Maybe," he replied. He notched the arrow and sent it into the bull's-eye, splintering the one he had sent there just a few moments ago.  
  
It was only the three of them at the Sungkyunkwan archery range that day. To Jae-shin, that felt strange; not just because the fourth member of the Jalgeum Quartet was absent, but also that Ka-hai wasn't there. Even when she didn't join them physically, he imagined her there anyway, looking over his shoulder and poking good-natured fun at his efforts. Now, because of their quarrel, the Ka-hai in his imagination had turned away from him. It was as though she was completely absent.  
  
Nevertheless, he carried on anyway, in order to spend some time with his friends and prepare for his part in laying the trap to capture the Blue Messenger. He was still reluctant to get involved, but decided to think of it as a possible way to help, rather than betray, her. If he got close enough, perhaps he could warn her and she could escape as he once had. He couldn't neglect his duty to serve and protect, but he couldn't turn his back on what he once was, either.  
  
"Sa-hyung," Sun-joon said to him then, "I couldn't help but notice that we're both unaccompanied today. Why isn't Ka-hai noonim here?"  
  
Jae-shin was at a loss for a good excuse, but as always, Yong-ha came to his rescue. "I think I saw her shopping in town on my way over here," said the flamboyantly dressed young man. "You know how women can be about their shopping — you can't pry them away from it, and it'll probably take forever."  
  
"You would know more than us about that, sa-hyung," Sun-joon answered with a laugh.  
  
"Now that we know where Geol-oh's wife is, how about yours, Ga-rang?" Yong-ha asked, obviously trying to divert the discussion from Ka-hai. "Why isn't Dae-mul here today?"  
  
"That's because she's feeling unwell," the other man replied, beaming.  
  
The cheerful announcement was met with perplexed frowns. "If she's unwell," Jae-shin wondered, "then why are you so happy?"  
  
Sun-joon's grin broadened. "Yoon-hee isn't feeling well because she's going to have a baby."  
  
His words fell like stones into still water. The others stood, frozen, for a moment as the news sank in.  
  
Yong-ha was the first to recover. "It took you long enough!" he crowed, clapping the younger man on the shoulder. "How long before the baby is born?"  
  
"It'll probably be born late in the spring." Sun-joon still hadn't stopped smiling. "Both our families are very excited."  
  
"I'm sure they are! Congratulations!"  
  
"Yes," Jae-shin repeated, "congratulations."  
  
He tuned out his friends when Sun-joon started talking about pregnancy symptoms, and occupied himself with shooting more arrows. He truly was happy for his friends' good fortune, but there were other things weighing on his mind.  
  
Of course, the proud father-to-be didn't know that. "Hey, Geol-oh sa-hyung, aren't you happy for me?" he teased. "You're not embarrassed that you let your juniors get ahead of you, are you?"  
  
Jae-shin dredged up a laugh for his friend. "I'll be happier when you buy your seniors something to drink after we're done here," he bantered back. "And as for the other thing...." He smiled crookedly, ignoring the sympathetic look from Yong-ha. "I'll see what I can do, all right?"  
  
If he felt bad, he thought as he and Sun-joon went back to practicing their archery, it wasn't because he was jealous of Sun-joon for winning Yoon-hee and, now, having a baby with her. Rather, he was jealous of the bond between the couple, and the fact that it was now bearing fruit. For a while, he thought that he and Ka-hai had forged that kind of connection, but sadly, he now knew that wasn't the case.

* * *

Fortunately, Jae-shin couldn't afford to waste time brooding over that, because not long after he found out about Sun-joon's impending fatherhood, In-soo's plan sprang into action.  
  
It felt just like the old days, except this time the police were looking over his shoulder (and, he thought with some amusement as he watched a group of officers copying out the message he had drafted, he had some help writing all those damn leaflets).  
  
Dressed as the Blue Messenger, Jae-shin took to the rooftops to scatter the false messages. Their contents clearly contradicted that of the originals, and —it had to be admitted — the writing was quite a bit better. In addition, there were also nights when he swooped down from his lofty perch like a malevolent bird of prey to wreak havoc in the marketplace, smashing walls and windows, and destroying some hapless vendors' wares.  
  
Soon, the city was buzzing over how the Blue Messenger had gone rogue. "This means that she will be brought up on additional charges if you ever catch her, whether or not she actually did those things," Minister Moon observed as he sat with his son in his study late one evening.  
  
"We'll catch her, don't worry," Jae-shin said briefly, not wanting to think about his part in those additional charges. "In fact, I have a feeling that it won't be long now."  
  
It seemed that the Blue Messenger's standing with the people was, at the very least, on shaky ground. Many were denouncing her as unstable and a criminal; and while a few bravely defended her to their peers, pointing out that the rogue Messenger was clearly a fake, most of those still on her side remained silent for fear that they would be suspected of having anything to do with her.  
  
"I hope so," his father said. "It'll be nice to put an end to all of this, won't it?"  
  
"Yes, Abeoji," he agreed, sounding tired. He couldn't wait to conclude the investigation so that, once the case was closed, he could focus his attention on putting his home life back in order.  
  
Minister Moon gave him an indulgent smile. (Jae-shin couldn't help wondering how he could be in such a good mood despite the tension surrounding the Blue Messenger case.) "Well, I think I should let you go to bed. You obviously need your rest."  
  
To be perfectly honest, Jae-shin didn't want to go to his bedroom and face his wife, but there was no denying that he was tired. Sighing, he nodded and said, "Then, if it's all right with you, Abeoji, I'll take my leave. Good night."  
  
"Good night, my son."  
  
He hoped that Ka-hai would be out of the room or already asleep when he got there, but from the sound of her maid chattering from within told him that he wasn't going to get either of his wishes. Further, as if he wasn't unlucky enough, the women were talking about the Blue Messenger.  
  
"That woman you bought your new hairpins from lost everything the last time the Blue Messenger attacked," Kwan-sook was saying. "Isn't that terrible?"  
  
"It is," Ka-hai agreed.  
  
"Master Jeung thinks it's strange because the Blue Messenger was supposed to be on the side of the people."  
  
Jae-shin expected his wife to launch into a tirade against the Messenger and how pointless and untidy it all was, but instead she said wearily, "Can we not talk about the Blue Messenger anymore, please, Kwan-sook?"  
  
"But, my lady, don't you care that those poor people lost everything because some criminal is on the loose? You know a lot of them personally."  
  
"I do care, but I don't want to talk about that right now. _My head hurts._ "  
  
Inexplicably, that was enough to silence the maid. "Yes, my lady," she said meekly.  
  
"Just finish braiding my hair, please."  
  
"Yes, my lady."  
  
That seemed like a good time to enter the room. With a perfunctory knock, he opened the door and stepped inside. Kwan-sook looked up and, noting the look on the young lord's face, hastened to do her mistress' bidding.  
  
Ka-hai mumbled her thanks when her hair was braided. She had been lying about that headache to shut her maid up, but now that Jae-shin was in the room, she really felt as though she was getting one. She was always painfully conscious of his presence whenever he was near, but in the past that consciousness had been a sweet anticipation of what would transpire when they were alone. Now, all he did was make her nervous in a bad way because there were so many things that she needed to say but couldn't find the words. For the thousandth time since their argument, she wished that she could move to another bedroom, but couldn't bear the thought of giving the whole household fodder for gossip, or of not having her husband nearby.  
  
She jumped when he spoke. "I couldn't help overhearing... you have a headache?" he asked, his voice like a distant rumble of thunder in the silent room.  
  
"Yes," she replied truthfully.  
  
"Don't you have medicine or something to make it go away?"  
  
"Yes, but it's not so bad that I need to take some." Ka-hai rose and made her way to the bed they still shared. "I'll feel better after I get some sleep."  
  
"Good."  
  
She rubbed her temples as she lay down. She supposed it was a good thing that they had progressed from total silence to stilted conversations, but getting through even the briefest of exchanges was draining. "Good night," she said politely, rolling herself up in her blankets.  
  
"Good night."

* * *

The next day, Jae-shin and In-soo went on patrol as always. With everyone around them talking about the Blue Messenger and the rumors that the recent acts of vandalism were the work of an impostor, they knew that it was important to carry on as usual, not only to try and reassure the people of the police's continued presence, but (at least in Jae-shin's mind) also avoid suspicion that they had anything to do with the attacks.  
  
However, it was difficult for him to see the aftermath of his actions in broad daylight. After the first incidents, he began taking careful note of the places hit by the false Messenger and finding discreet ways to give them money. Most of the time, he casually dropped a string of coins as he passed a wrecked stall. Sometimes he enlisted In-soo or Yong-ha's help, and other times he even personally gave his victims some money. He didn't know whether the sums were enough to help get the vendors back in business, but at least it assuaged his guilt somewhat.  
  
"Does your father know you're doing this?" In-soo muttered to him after they dropped off the latest donation. It had been his turn to do it and the beneficiary was a wrinkled old ajumma who had covered his face with grateful kisses.  
  
"Yes," Jae-shin replied. "Even though it's my money, not his." Part of his mother's dowry had come to him when he turned eighteen.  
  
"If it's your money, then you should be the one handing it out — or at least let me deal with some of the younger ajummas. My cheeks are getting chapped."  
  
"Sorry, but you're betrothed, remember? I don't want your fiancée accusing me of leading you astray."  
  
He laughed unrepentantly as In-soo gave him a playful snarl and told him exactly what he could do with his apology. His partner then excused himself to "see a man about a horse," leaving Jae-shin alone.  
  
As he waited for his partner to finish with his personal business, something bounced off his head. At first, he dismissed it as some loose debris sliding off the nearby rooftops, but when a bright blue pebble fell off the brim of his hat and dropped at his feet, he was forced to pay attention.  
  
Jae-shin bent down to pick up the pebble, which turned out to be a tightly wadded piece of paper, then looked up in time to see a dark form disappearing from his line of vision. "It's a bit more crude than an arrow, but I suppose it does the trick," he murmured, unfolding the note.  
  
Unlike the Blue Messenger's usual missives, the writing was more straightforward and it was directed at him:  
  
 _You know I didn't do any of the things I'm being accused of doing. I have to clear my name so the people will listen to me again. I'll wait for you on the rooftop next to the blacksmith's. Please come; I need your help._

* * *

He didn't show up, of course. Instead, a few days later, the false Blue Messenger showered the town with threatening messages, warning the residents of Yongsan, one of the poorer neighborhoods north of the Han river, to beware. It was a broad hint that the false Messenger would hit that area next, and a blatant invitation for the real one to make an appearance.

* * *

Working discreetly, the police comandeered an abandoned hut in the Yongsan area to serve as their base of operations. It was there that the officers working on the Blue Messenger case were gathered, going over the final preparations for the trap that they planned to spring that very night.  
  
In-soo turned away briefly from the map he was reviewing to raise an inquiring eyebrow at Jae-shin. "Are you all right, old man?"  
  
"I'm fine," he replied curtly as he donned the false Blue Messenger's clothing for what he hoped would be the last time. "I'm just preparing myself for what is to come, that's all."  
  
"One would think you had done this sort of thing before," the other man observed mildly, smirking when his partner only grunted in reply.  
  
Jae-shin knew better than to rise to In-soo's bait, however good his intentions were. Although he wouldn't be in any real danger if everything went according to plan, there were always unforeseen risks — a misstep, a wrong turn, a bystander taking the law into his own hands — that could prove fatal if he wasn't prepared for them.  
  
Despite his best efforts, though, his thoughts persisted in straying to the wife he had left at home. Thanks to the servants, she no doubt knew by now that he would be working until very late that night, and he could just imagine Ka-hai sitting in their bedroom, singing to herself as she sewed, blissfully unaware that her husband was facing his most dangerous assignment yet.  
  
Or perhaps, he thought, she was worried about him? Jae-shin's father was away, too, visiting a friend out in the country, and so she was left alone with just the servants and a handful of Minister Moon's personal guards to protect her. Even though Joseon was currently enjoying a period of relative peace, tensions lingered between the Noron and Soron factions. What if one of his father's enemies attacked while they were gone?  
  
He shook his head to clear it. It was highly unlikely that such a thing would happen; and if he knew Ka-hai, she would be able to take care of herself in such an emergency. There were lots of other important things to think about in the here and now.  
  
Suddenly, an acrid smell assailed his nostrils and Jae-shin realized that In-soo and the others were arming themselves with guns. "Are those really necessary?" he blurted out, unable to hide his apprehension. "Gunpowder isn't exactly thick on the ground, you know."  
  
"Our instructions are to capture the Blue Messenger by any means necessary," Sergeant Ho told him.  
  
"And if the Blue Messenger can't see us coming," one of the veteran officers added as he tied a bag of ammunition to his belt, "then she can't get away."  
  
"Don't worry, old man," In-soo assured him cheerfully. "If we do need to shoot anyone, we'll try our best to hit the right person."

* * *

Everything proceeded according to plan.  
  
Jae-shin, dressed as the Blue Messenger, scattered sheafs of subversive messages, smashed a few windows and set fire to trash piles and roofs. Despite the light rain that had begun to fall, the fires burned long enough to distract all but a few reckless souls from coming after him. When someone did try take him on, he overpowered them easily and went on to wreak further havoc.  
  
Then, as they had anticipated, the real Messenger appeared to confront him. The moment she appeared, Jae-shin paused just long enough to let any eyewitnesses see that there was indeed a false Blue Messenger, then darted into a wooded area to draw her away from the police stationed nearby (and their guns).  
  
It was there that the unforeseen risks took over.  
  
Once he was fairly sure that they were alone, Jae-shin stopped and turned to warn the Blue Messenger to escape while she had the chance, but just managed to dodge the slash of her sword.  
  
He had no choice but to draw his own in order to defend himself. "It's me," he said, speaking in a low voice to avoid being overheard.  
  
She didn't seem to have heard, because she tried to cut him again.  
  
"It's _me_ ," he said again, louder this time.  
  
"I know!" she snapped. "And I'm going to kill you!"  
  
Their swords met once again with a loud clang. The Blue Messenger was a competent swordswoman, but his skill far outweighed hers. Jae-shin decided to press his advantage to try and force her away from Yongsan, where most of the police were concentrated, and across the river. (The plan, of course, was for him to try and apprehend the Blue Messenger as soon as possible, but you could never completely control how these things turned out, could you?)  
  
"I'm trying to help you!" Jae-shin hissed as he deflected another blow.  
  
"You call _this_ trying to help? You led me right into a trap!"  
  
"It was the only way I could think of to get close enough to do anything useful!"  
  
"You could have just _told_ me about all of this!"  
  
The rain began to pour in earnest as they burst out of the woods and into the open. Water dripped into their eyes, making it hard to see, and drenched everything it touched. Their sodden garments grew heavy and the hilts of their swords slippery, making this confrontation a truly miserable one indeed.  
  
As he tried to force the Blue Messenger onto the bridge without losing his footing on the slick wooden slats, all Jae-shin could think was that he wanted to go home to Ka-hai. Somehow, they had managed to create that peaceful refuge he had dreamed their home would be... and yes, while their marriage hadn't started out as a love match, he believed that they were at least on their way to that point. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to be warm, dry and in the company of a wife whom he knew he could count on to be there if he needed her, quarrel or no.  
  
Maybe he _was_ getting too old for this kind of thing.  
  
Suddenly, there was a loud _crack_ and the Blue Messenger spun, her sword swinging out wildly. Jae-shin dodged.  
  
There was another _crack_. The Blue Messenger dropped her sword and fell to one knee, clearly hurt. He dashed forward to help her, but with a feral gleam in her eyes, she jumped to her feet and off the bridge.  
  
He bit back a curse as the Messenger plummeted into the river below. She had been doing a good job of following his lead, at least when he was helping her with her writing. She should have done the same tonight and given herself a chance to get out of this alive, but of course contrary females just had to make things complicated.  
  
Filling his heart and mind with the face of the contrary female waiting for him at home, Jae-shin followed the Blue Messenger into the icy waters of the Han.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Technical Notes:** According to Wikipedia and a fic on the [Lunar Annals](http://lunar-annals.blogspot.com/) blog (check it out for more SKKS goodness!), an _uinyeo_ is a female physician who specialized in the treatment of women during the Joseon period. During a time when personal modesty and segregation of the sexes was emphasized, women naturally could not be examined by a male physician.
> 
> Also, according to a couple of Google searches I did on the matter, certain activities mentioned in the latter part of this chapter are safe for women with normal pregnancies. Besides, I kind of like the @$$-backwards way our couple is approaching things :-p

_Chapter Fifteen_  
  
The steward had told her that Jae-shin was working late, which meant that she didn't need to stay up and wait for him, but Ka-hai was unable to sleep. Her husband had worked late before, but never to the point of staying out all night. The dull roar of the rain falling outside, coupled with her father-in-law's absence, compounded her worries.  
  
"He'll be fine," she murmured to herself as she sat in their bedroom, trying to read. The police were on the alert because of the Blue Messenger's latest antics, but what could either they or the Messenger possibly accomplish in such bad weather? Jae-shin was sure to come home to her that night — cold, wet, and irritated, but otherwise safe and sound.  
  
Suddenly, she heard a door bang open and a woman scream. Scrambling to her feet, she hurried to one of the front rooms and was taken aback when she found a couple of maids including Madam Choi, the housekeeper, huddled fearfully before a dark, hulking form standing in the middle of the chamber.  
  
Ka-hai stared at it stupidly for a moment before her body leapt into action. She threw the book that was still in her hand at the intruder, catching him on the side of the head, then snatched up a nearby chair and planted herself between him and her staff. "Get out of here!" she ordered the stranger, baring her teeth in a snarl. _"Get out!"_  
  
She swung the chair, but he danced aside. Her makeshift weapon was hardly a deadly one, but she still felt a fierce thrill when she caught him in the upper arm on the second try.  
  
 _"Ouch!"_ Pain radiated throughout Jae-shin's body, which was already sore from everything he had done so far that night. He almost dropped his burden, but kept his balance and his grip. " _Hold!_ Ka-hai, it's me!"  
  
To his immense relief, Madam Choi recognized his voice and grabbed her mistress' arm urgently. "My lady! It's the young lord!"  
  
Ka-hai frowned and lowered the chair, but didn't let it go. "Jae-shin?"  
  
"Yes! Help me get this mask off!"  
  
She reached out cautiously to remove the mask that shielded the lower half of his face. The maids behind her sighed in relief when they saw that it was indeed her husband under the disguise, but it just made her even more confused. "Why aren't you in uniform?" Her eyes traveled over him, widening with alarm when she noticed that the water puddling on the floor was tinged with red. _"What happened?!"_  
  
"None of that is mine," he assured her quickly, then held out the unconscious person slumped in his arms. "This person has been seriously wounded. Can you help?"  
  
"Who's that?" she asked, stiffening and drawing away from him, as if he expected to make her carry the injured person who, despite the sexless dark clothing, was obviously a woman. What had they been doing together?  
  
"It's the Blue Messenger!" he snapped, urgency giving an edge to his voice. _Why wasn't Ka-hai doing anything?_  
  
"The Blue Messenger!" she gasped, looking disapprovingly at the wounded woman. "But why are you bringing her here?"  
  
 _"Because she might die if you don't help her!"_ Jae-shin shook his burden at her, jostling the Blue Messenger and causing her to groan faintly. "Because I used to do what she does," he went on, his voice shaking as he strove to keep it under control. "Because I know all too well what it's like to be hurt and alone. Would you hesitate if the wounded criminal were me?"  
  
Ka-hai had kept her jaw clenched throughout her husband's tirade, fighting to keep the cold face even as every word her husband spoke clawed at her heart. It was painfully obvious that this meant a lot to him and he had taken the Blue Messenger to their home believing that his wife would help; but at the same time, every fiber of her being rebelled against the idea of helping someone who could very well be her replacement.  
  
 _What do I do?_  
  
Finally, she turned to the women still clustered behind her. "Madam Choi, please prepare one of the spare rooms," she instructed the housekeeper. "Nam-sin, start some water boiling and tell Kwan-sook to fetch my medicines. Seo-hyun, clean up this mess. We should probably hide any evidence that this woman is here."

* * *

After leaving the Blue Messenger in his wife's care, Jae-shin stole out again to rejoin the police on the banks of the Han. He sprinted through the downpour, glad that the rain was washing away his tracks. His luck was holding.  
  
There were a couple of officers stationed near his point of re-entry, a crudely constructed dock partway down the river from where the Blue Messenger had fallen in, but the darkness and splatter of raindrops on the leaves overhead helped him escape their notice. He wove through the rough collection of shacks standing next to the dock and slipped back into the water, careful not to jostle the small fishing boats moored there. Taking a deep breath, he dove.  
  
 _"It's him!"_ he heard someone shout when he surfaced some distance from the riverbank. _"I see him, sir!"_  
  
In-soo and Sergeant Ho waded into the water to help him back onto (not very) dry land, where a small group had gathered to greet him. "Are you all right, Detective Moon?" the older man demanded.  
  
"I'm fine, sir," Jae-shin coughed. At least, he thought, he didn't have to pretend that he was tired.  
  
"You're not hurt anywhere?"  
  
"No, sir."  
  
In-soo breathed a gusty sigh of relief. "I guess I shot the right Blue Messenger, after all."  
  
Even though the effort of catching his breath made it painful to laugh, Jae-shin managed a teasing chuckle for his partner. "Awww... you were worried about me?"  
  
"Just be glad that I didn't decide to shoot the both of you to even my chances," the other man retorted with a scowl. "Where's the Blue Messenger?"  
  
"I lost her in the water," he sighed. "Maybe the others were able to catch her?"  
  
Everyone around him shook their heads. "We've been patrolling the banks since you both went down, sir," answered one of the youngest members of the team. "You're the first to come out."  
  
"Why did you go after her, anyway, you idiot?" In-soo demanded.  
  
"He was giving chase, of course," Sergeant Ho said. "To make sure that we truly apprehended the Blue Messenger."  
  
"But I failed," Jae-shin added, bowing his head. "I'm sorry."  
  
"You did your best," the commander consoled him. "Without you, Detective Ha's plan might not have worked as well as it did. Now that you have done your part, let the rest of us take over.  
  
"Split up into groups of three and station yourselves along the riverbanks — here and on the other side," he instructed the assembled men. "Take turns keeping watch. That way, if the Blue Messenger comes out of hiding, or if her body washes up somewhere, we'll be prepared."

* * *

Jae-shin was, of course, excused from the patrol and dismissed so that he could go home and get some rest. Sergeant Ho even lent him his own personal mount so that he wouldn't have to walk.  
  
The women, assisted now by Kwan-sook, were still tending to the Blue Messenger when he returned home for the second time that night. "How is she?" he asked as he joined Sang-hun in gawking from the doorway. Ka-hai and her assistants obscured the Messenger from view, but there seemed to be an alarmingly large number of bloody cloths heaped around them.  
  
"We're not done yet," his wife told him shortly. She glanced at him over her shoulder and frowned. "You're tracking water on the floor. Nam-sin, please draw a hot bath for my husband."  
  
"Yes, my lady." The maid rose to her feet and Jae-shin tried to take a peek at the Blue Messenger, but one of the other maids moved to fill the space that was vacated, so he saw nothing.  
  
"You should probably go, my lord," Sang-hun whispered to him. "You don't want to catch a chill or worse, make the lady mad at you."  
  
The lady was already mad at him, but of course he didn't say so. Instead, he smiled and laid his hand briefly on the little boy's head. "No, we definitely don't want that."

* * *

Obediently, Jae-shin staggered off to his bedroom, where he sat and dozed, his back against the wall, as Nam-sin prepared his bath. After she was gone, he shucked his clothes, lowered himself into the steaming water with a groan, and fell asleep in the tub.  
  
He roused when he heard the door open. Hearing the familiar sound of his wife's footsteps on the other side of the screen, he dunked his head hurriedly under the water, slapped on a towel and rose to meet her. "Are you done?"  
  
Ka-hai nodded briefly. "There was a bullet in her shoulder, and another in her leg," she reported. "We got them both out. She broke her leg and lost a lot of blood, but she's still alive."  
  
As she spoke, she fetched a basin to hold the wet clothes until they could be disposed of, then shook out a fresh towel and began to help him dry off.  
  
"We did our best to clean the wounds and splint her leg," she went on. "I hope it's enough to avoid infection — usually, when this happens to a horse, we just put it out of its misery."  
  
She chafed his skin roughly, like a mother cleaning up a very dirty child, but it had been so long since he'd had her near that he couldn't help responding to her touch. Jae-shin saw color rush to her cheeks in the lamplight, but other than that she gave no indication that she was aware of his interest until he hiccuped and drew her towards him, fingers fumbling with the ties of her clothing.  
  
It did not occur to Ka-hai to deny her husband. She felt a brief stirring of nervousness in the pit of her stomach at the thought of doing _that_ with him in her condition, but the _uinyeo_ she had visited, an earthy, practical woman, assured her that physical activities like horseback riding and lovemaking were perfectly safe for now. She understood that he needed to take because he was bone-weary and seeking comfort, and she was only too happy to give because she loved him.  
  
As they lay wrapped around each other, she dared to hope that this was a sign that everything was all right again, but the frost seemed to creep back in between them when their heartbeats slowed. She wrapped herself tightly in her blanket after he withdrew from her, physically and emotionally, and closed her eyes tight as if to shut out the notion that he had come to her only because the woman in the other room was too ill to accommodate him.  
  
 _I won't cry. I won't._  
  
Jae-shin rolled onto his back, beyond exhausted. Dimly, he heard his wife moving about beside him and thought about pulling her to him and burying his nose in the nape of her neck, just like before, but his arms felt like lead. It was all he could do to drag his own blanket to cover his beaten body.  
  
Perhaps later, he thought sleepily, after he rested for a while....

* * *

As it happened, Jae-shin slept like a dead man until well after dawn, rousing only when he heard a movement somewhere over his head.  
  
He opened his eyes and craned his neck in time to see his wife emerge from behind the privacy screen that hid their washstand, already dressed and wiping her mouth with a towel. She stopped short when she saw that he was awake, and ducked her head politely. "Good morning."  
  
"Good morning," he replied. Once upon a time, he would have followed such a greeting with a sly suggestion that she return to bed, but instead he asked, "Are you all right? I mean... after last night?"  
  
Ka-hai blushed. She didn't know whether he was referring to her tending the Blue Messenger or what happened after that, but regardless of what it was, there was nothing extraordinary about the way she felt that morning. "I'm fine," she replied quietly.  
  
She glanced at him, one hand falling to cover her belly, and wondered whether her husband had noticed any of the changes that had already begun to appear in her body. Was that his way of remarking on them? "Jae-shin," she began, "you're probably—"  
  
Suddenly, he sat up, his blanket falling to bare his torso. "What time is it?" he demanded. "Is the Blue Messenger awake? Has my father come home?"  
  
The news of her pregnancy died in her throat. "I don't know if the Blue Messenger is awake," she replied evenly, busying herself with settling down before her small vanity case in order to fix her hair. "I've only just risen myself and haven't been to see her yet. And in case you've forgotten, Abeonim is supposed to come home tomorrow."  
  
"Oh, that's right. I got the days mixed up." He sighed and smoothed his hair back from his face, his movements stiff. A large purple bruise decorated his bicep and Ka-hai wondered if she had put it there. "Then I have time to think of an explanation for why we have a surprise guest."  
  
"I thought about it already," she told him as she pulled a brush through her hair. It was true; it had occurred to her last night, while tending to the Blue Messenger's wounds, that her father-in-law would naturally ask questions when he discovered a stranger in the house. "We can tell him that she's a cousin visiting me from the country. She got caught in the rain on the way here and took ill, so she has to stay awhile.  
  
"I'll just pretend that I forgot to ask his permission before inviting her to come," she went on, tugging the brush gently through a tangle. "He won't mind...." _In fact, he can't deny me anything now that I'm carrying his grandchild._ "So long as I apologize to him properly."  
  
"He spoils you," Jae-shin chuckled, the sound warming her heart, and shot her a crooked smile over his shoulder. His expression cooled when he remembered that they were supposed to be quarreling, but he had definitely smiled at her, even for just a moment.  
  
"Yes, I suppose he does." Ka-hai ducked her head as she wove her hair into a braid. She wanted to ask him about the connection between him and the Blue Messenger, but instead she asked, "Are you all right?"  
  
"I'm fine," Jae-shin replied, nodding as he turned away.  
  
Her eye fell on his back, which now boasted a number of welts and shallow cuts as well as the scars that had already been there before. "You don't need anything for your back?"  
  
"I'll be all right." He wrapped his blanket around his waist and, grunting with the effort, rose laboriously to his feet. "But if anything starts to bother me, I'll let you know."  
  
"All right." She tied her hair with a ribbon as her husband made his way to the washstand for his own morning ablutions. "Then I suppose I'll go ask the servants for more wash water and check on our guest."  
  
He looked at her before he disappeared behind the privacy screen. "Thank you," he said in a low voice. "For, you know, helping with... everything."  
  
She inclined her head before turning away and heading for the door. "You're welcome."


	16. Chapter 16, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Technical Notes:** According to Wikipedia, a sangmin is someone of the servant class.
> 
>  **Author's Notes:** Thank you to top for the comment, and to those who left kudos! :)

_Chapter Sixteen, Part One_  
  
While Jae-shin took the day off to recover from his stint as the false Blue Messenger, the police continued to patrol the locality around the spot where the real Messenger had fallen.  
  
Naturally, their search proved fruitless since she was no longer in the area where they were looking, so the next day, it was with empty hands and somber faces that Jae-shin, In-soo, Sergeant Ho and the rest of their team went to deliver their report to a delegation of Ministry higher-ups, including General Baek, the Minister of War.  
  
Jae-shin began the proceedings by outlining their investigation into the Blue Messenger's identity. "Working with Sungkyunkwan University experts," he reported, "we managed to deduce that the Blue Messenger was a woman who had attained some level of education; however, samples of her writing did not match any of the Sungkyunkwan scholars, man or woman. If I may," he added, "I never really thought that the Blue Messenger was a scholar. The quality of the writing was never consistent with what is taught at Sungkyunkwan."  
  
"You just _had_ to mention that, didn't you?" his partner murmured behind him.  
  
He ignored that and pressed on. "We believe that it was reasonable to conclude that if the Blue Messenger wasn't a Sungkyunkwan scholar, then she was probably a common-born city-dweller, someone who had access to information but had no political connections with which to make herself heard. We consulted numerous sources in the city, but unfortunately we were unable to narrow our search, let alone single out one suspect."  
  
At that point, In-soo took up the telling of the tale. "When we proved unable to positively identify anyone as being the Blue Messenger, we concocted a plan to draw her out, make her come to us. This meant sending out a false Blue Messenger who would wreak havoc among the people, forcing her to confront the impostor in order to try and salvage her reputation.  
  
"Of course," he added when Jae-shin cleared his throat discreetly, "we also saw to it that the impostor's victims were compensated for the damage to their property. We managed to get money to them in various ways, but in some instances we simply handed it over while on patrol. Personally, I thought it was a good way of improving public perceptions of the police."  
  
General Baek raised an eyebrow in mild approval. "Very clever."  
  
"Thank you, sir." In-soo inclined his head, accepting the compliment from the man who had taken his father's position, and gestured for Sergeant Ho to continue.  
  
The older man cleared his throat nervously and stood so straight that Jae-shin believed he might tip over. "In one of his messages, the impostor indicated that he was going to attack the Yongsan area," he said. "Just as we had hoped, the real Messenger showed up and the two had a confrontation. Detective Ha here managed to shoot the real Messenger, but she jumped into the Han before we could apprehend her. Our false Messenger gave chase, but was unable to catch the suspect. He, too, had been injured during the events of that night and was not at full capacity.  
  
"Nevertheless," he went on, "our team patrolled the vicinity for twenty-four hours in case the Blue Messenger was hiding somewhere and just waiting for a good time to make her escape. However, we did not find her or any signs that she had taken refuge in the area, and her body was not found."  
  
General Baek nodded thoughtfully. "And so, what is your conclusion?"  
  
"Based on our findings, sir," Sergeant Ho replied, "we presume that the Blue Messenger drowned while escaping arrest, and her body may have been carried much farther down the river, maybe even out to sea. The case can therefore be closed."

* * *

The Blue Messenger had regained consciousness by the time Jae-shin returned home that day. Although feverish, she was perfectly lucid, so he was able to tell her the good news regarding the outcome of her case.  
  
"Does this mean I'm free?" she asked. A smile dawned over her face when he nodded, and she laughed. Her laughter was weak, due to her state of physical exhaustion, but there was genuine joy in the sound.  
  
"You could have escaped without having to go through all of this," he couldn't resist pointing out, gesturing towards the sickbed. "If you had only followed my lead."  
  
"What lead?" the Blue Messenger retorted. "You could have talked to me about this instead of just assuming I can read minds." She turned her head to address Ka-hai, who was seated nearby, folding fresh bandages. "Is he really like this, my lady? Does he not tell you things, too?"  
  
Jae-shin's wife shot him a brief glance before smiling stiffly at their houseguest. "I think that my 'things' might be different from your 'things,' so I can't rightly say."  
  
"Anyway," he interrupted before the women could start in on him, "just because your case is closed doesn't mean that you can pick up where you left off. I can't guarantee that you'll get out of it alive next time."  
  
"Don't worry," the invalid assured him. "It looks like my days as the Blue Messenger are over, anyway; I don't think I can go back to running across rooftops with this leg.  
  
"I'm not sorry I did it, though," she declared, her eyes bright. "I was married once myself, you know; my husband and I didn't have half as much as this, but we were happy. Then he got sick and died last winter because we couldn't get him any medicine or firewood. We had no money, and no one would help us."  
  
Jae-shin nodded. Her voice was clear and steady, but the pain of loss, familiar to him as his own breath, still lingered in her words.  
  
"I was a wreck," she continued, "but then I remembered the Red Messenger's writings and I thought, why not let my thoughts and feelings fly, too? The idea that I could bind in words the bad things that had happened to us, that I could at least tell someone about them — and, all right, annoy the yangbans while I was at it," she admitted with a soft chuckle, "made me feel less angry somehow."  
  
"Wouldn't it have been better," Ka-hai ventured as she finished with the bandages, "to do something about what was wrong, once you knew what that was?"  
  
"What could I have done?" the Blue Messenger asked. "I'm a sangmin, and a woman. Even though the king says that we live in a new Joseon, there hasn't been any real change yet for people like me. Besides," she added with a shrug, "nothing would have brought my husband back."  
  
"Sometimes," Jae-shin said, glancing at his wife, "all you can really do is write about it." Ka-hai's eyes met his for a moment before she dropped her gaze and turned her attention to lighting a brazier to brew some tea.  
  
The Messenger turned back to him. "You understand all of this a bit too well, Officer," she observed shrewdly. "You used to be the Red Messenger, didn't you?"  
  
With the way he had critiqued her writing and tracked her down, time after time, it was no surprise that she figured that out, but he hadn't expected her to ask him about it so directly. Still, he supposed there was no reason to lie or be evasive about his past. "Guilty as charged," he admitted with a crooked smile.  
  
"I had a feeling that was you," she said, wagging her finger at him. "You knew far too much about my doings, sometimes even before I thought of it myself. No wonder you gave me all that advice."  
  
"And that's precisely why you should have listened to me," he concluded, bringing their conversation full circle.  
  
She rolled her eyes. "You can say 'I told you so' all you want, but it's too late to undo things now."  
  
"I suppose it is," he averred, "but it's not too late for one last piece of advice — now that you have to put your Messenger days behind you, it's time to think of something else to do."

* * *

Jae-shin felt better than he had in days when he and his wife retired to their bedroom that night. His life still felt a little bit off-kilter, but with the case officially closed and his father home (and having no objections to "Cousin Hyo-rin" staying a while), his worries were gradually going away.  
  
Now, he thought, if he could only figure out what to do about the worry that was currently sitting across the low table from him, preparing to go to bed. He should be relieved that Ka-hai now knew about his previous life as the Red Messenger, but then she hadn't said anything to him about it. The sudden revelation was probably hard for her to swallow; but the fact that she had barely said a word to him since the conversation in the sickroom was worrisome.  
  
Had she known what was on her husband's mind, Ka-hai would have readily agreed that his past wasn't something she could easily comprehend. What weighed more heavily on her thoughts, however, was the idea that the things she had said in anger on that fateful night had hurt him deeply. Now, she knew that she had to apologize.  
  
"Will there be anything else, my lady?" Kwan-sook asked then, breaking into her thoughts.  
  
"Hmm? Oh. No," she replied, shaking her head. "That will be all. Thank you, Kwan-sook."  
  
"Good night, my lady." She bowed to her mistress, and then to the lady's husband. "My lord."  
  
"Good night," chorused husband and wife.  
  
After the maid quit the chamber, Ka-hai busied herself with shaking out her blanket and getting into bed. The silence that had fallen with Kwan-sook's departure grew heavy, and then oppressive when Jae-shin extinguished the candles and enveloped them in darkness.  
  
There was a rustling noise as he, too, lay down. She knew that she had to say something, but was afraid to bring up their argument for fear that it would drive a wedge between them again. It might even send her husband away from her side... and to that of the Blue Messenger.  
  
 _But it shouldn't be a problem if he knew that I was sorry, right?_  
  
"Hmm?" Jae-shin's voice, heavy with slumber, rumbled quietly in the night. "You said something?"  
  
She winced, cursing her habit of muttering things to herself, but had no choice but to follow through now that she had unwittingly decided to speak. "I said I'm sorry," she told him, trying to keep her voice steady. "About the things I said before... when I complained about the Blue Messenger."  
  
"Oh, that."  
  
Ka-hai felt her face grow warm. It was hardly "I forgive you," but at least he also didn't sound as though he were still angry. "If I had known that you used to do the same thing," she added, "that it meant so much to you, then I would have tried to be more understanding about it all."  
  
He was silent for a moment. "I suppose I should have told you. I've never had to actually tell anyone before."  
  
"Actually, maybe I should have been more understanding even if I hadn't known. It's just that... I never imagined that people needed to do stuff like that. But," she added magnanimously, "I realize now that I've been lucky. My family has known hard times, but we've never been as poor as the Blue Messenger and her husband; and I've never lost a loved one, either."  
  
"Yes, you've been very lucky," Jae-shin said with a small, but not entirely humorless, chuckle. "There are many others who haven't been able to solve their problems, no matter how hard they tried... and, of course, there is absolutely nothing you can do when you lose someone you love."  
  
Ka-hai reached out impulsively to touch his hand. Her heart gave a painful lurch when he stiffened, but that was only momentary and soon enough, his fingers interlaced with hers. "Abeonim told me that your older brother was killed while serving the king," she said softly, "and that the two of you were very close. Was it Ajubeoni's death that made you angry enough to become the Red Messenger?"  
  
He sighed. "Yes. I wanted the world to know that he died unjustly, and I wanted the people responsible to be afraid."  
  
"I'm sure that it worked."  
  
"It did," he told her. "And you know what was even better? Later on, I started hearing others talking about the Red Messenger's writings — scholars, merchants, and then even ordinary working people." He paused. "I realized...." His voice trailed off.  
  
"What did you realize?" she asked after another, longer pause. "Jae-shin?" She sat up, not letting go of his hand, and leaned towards her husband, listening hard for any signs of distress. To her relief, she heard his deep, even breathing and realized that he had merely fallen asleep.  
  
A small sigh of exasperation escaped Ka-hai as she lay back down. She also wanted to tell him about her pregnancy, but of course he had to go and spoil her plans. _Ah, well...._ she thought, edging closer to Jae-shin and curling up against his side. At least one very important matter had finally been laid to rest.

* * *

Since the Blue Messenger had spent part of her youth in the country, it was easy for Ka-hai and "Cousin Hyo-rin" to fabricate a common history. However, Minister Moon eventually saw that things weren't what they seemed.  
  
"Those two aren't really related, right?" he asked his son as they shared a postprandial drink in his study several days after his return from out of town.  
  
Jae-shin looked at him, but Minister Moon barreled on before he forced the boy to lie. "Your wife's 'cousin' appeared here while I was away," he said, "at around the time the Blue Messenger disappeared and was presumed drowned. In addition, the laundresses are washing a suspiciously large amount of bandages, and I recognize some of the medicines Ka-hai is using from those instances when the Red Messenger was wounded. It's true that the woman may have become ill from getting caught in the rain," he concluded, "but that is clearly not all that's ailing her."  
  
His son opened his mouth, then shut it again, then finally admitted, "No, Abeonim, it's not."  
  
Minister Moon sighed. "You are aware that this means we're harboring a wanted criminal, don't you?"  
  
"She's not wanted anymore," Jae-shin reminded him. "The case has been closed. But even if it's opened again," he added thoughtfully, "would it matter? This house has hidden a wanted criminal before."  
  
"That was a different situation. I'm your father, and the servants are loyal to us. You had every right to expect safe haven here."  
  
Jae-shin's face tightened in the rebellious scowl that had once been his customary expression while in his father's presence. "And the Blue Messenger doesn't?" he demanded, setting down his wine cup with a loud _clack_. "Is it fair for her to do the same thing as I did, but be left for the wolves because she's a commoner?"  
  
"Calm down, Jae-shin," Minister Moon ordered. "I'm not saying that she has to leave; it's clear that she's not fit to travel just yet. I just hope you are aware of the lengths that everyone is going to in order to help you. Even though there aren't many of us living here, the servants have plenty of work to do as it is.  
  
"And what about Ka-hai?" he went on. "She should be—" He cut himself off. Jae-shin would have wondered why, had he not been so angry, but the things that Minister Moon said next distracted him. "A good husband should be considerate of his wife's wishes, but instead, you've made her accept a strange woman into her home, tell lies for you—"  
  
"It's not as though I brought home another wife, Abeonim!" Jae-shin said, bristling.  
  
"Haven't you?"  
  
 _"No!"_ he answered vehemently. "I don't have that kind of relationship with the Blue Messenger. I already have my hands full with one wife; I'd have to be insane to take another!"  
  
Minister Moon gave a short bark of laughter. "You have a point."  
  
"It's true that Ka-hai didn't want to help at first," his son acknowledged, "but she eventually decided to do so. It was also her idea to pretend that the Blue Messenger was her cousin. I had absolutely nothing to do with whatever it was she told you — Ka-hai came up with that all by herself."  
  
"Did she?"  
  
"You can go and ask her right now."  
  
Minister Moon's eyebrows rose as he digested the information, and suddenly he smiled. "Then she must really love you."

* * *

_She must really love you._  
  
Jae-shin was still reeling from those words as he entered his bedroom later that night. Part of him cautioned that his father saying so didn't make it true, but he also discovered that the rest of him — which just happened to be the unsettlingly overwhelming majority — fervently wanted to believe that it was so.  
  
A splashing sound behind the privacy screen broke into his thoughts, and then he heard Ka-hai's voice ask, "Kwan-sook, is that you?"  
  
"Uh... no," he answered, stifling a hiccup against the back of his hand. "It's Jae-shin."  
  
"Oh." There was another splash, and then the sound of trickling water as she apparently rose from her bath. Her towel, which had been draped over the top of the screen, disappeared from view. "Well, I should hope that it's you. Or else, I'd have to wonder why there was another man in my bedroom."  
  
His chest tightened at the idea. (It was only natural that he react that way, he reasoned. She was his wife, and this was his room, too.) "If that ever happens," he advised her, "don't waste time wondering. Just shoot him."  
  
Chuckling briefly to show that he was — mostly — joking, he turned away from that corner of the room. There was nothing to see there, he told himself, and no need to think about what she might be doing. Reading would be a more rewarding pastime.  
  
Moving quickly, Ka-hai dried off and dressed in fresh clothing, then settled herself in front of her vanity case to attend to her hair, which she had already washed earlier that day and caught in a loose topknot to keep it dry as she bathed. Kwan-sook was excused from her duties because Sang-hun had caught a chill, so Ka-hai had to look after herself that night.  
  
She heard Jae-shin hiccup as she undid the topknot and ducked her head to hide the color suffusing her cheeks. Thanks to Yong-ha, she knew what the hiccups meant, and remembered all too well what had happened the last time her husband had hiccuped in her presence.  
  
Jae-shin blushed, too, even as he pretended to be absorbed in his book. He had been so wrapped up in trying to comprehend the idea that his wife might have tender feelings for him that he had forgotten to think about how he would now act around her.  
  
A diversion seemed like a good idea. "My father knows that you and our guest aren't really related," he announced.  
  
She froze in the middle of combing her hair and turned to him, her eyes wide. "Are we in trouble?"  
  
He couldn't help smiling (and hiccuping again) at the "we." It was clear that Ka-hai had at least chosen to stand by him and his decision to help the Blue Messenger, despite their differences and the risks involved. That was her duty as his wife, of course, but why would she willingly take a greater part in the deception by lying to Minister Moon, if not out of love? The idea seemed to crack open something long buried inside of him, filling his soul with light.  
  
"No," he replied. "Abeonim knew that I was once the Red Messenger, too. He understands."  
  
"Good." It was a relief to know that Minister Moon wasn't going to turn them in, but Ka-hai found herself unable to relax because her husband wouldn't stop hiccuping. Was he just waiting for her to finish so that he could pounce on her? Should she even bother arranging her hair, if he was just going to take it down again?  
  
(Was he hiccuping because he was thinking of someone else?)  
  
Finally, unable to ignore the hiccups any longer, she turned to peer at him quizzically. "Are you all right, Jae-shin?"  
  
"Me?" He nodded, even as his shoulders lurched from another hiccup. "I'm fine," he assured her in a tone that belied his words. "It's just, uh, nerves. From my father finding out our secret. We're not in any danger," he reminded her hastily. "I just didn't expect him to know."  
  
"There's probably very little that goes on in this house that Abeonim doesn't know about," she said with a wry smile, then paused. "Would you like me to massage your shoulders for you?" Ka-hai suggested, glancing away shyly. Perhaps, if he knew that it was all right to approach her, then he wouldn't think of going to someone else to relieve his needs. "Or, if you'd rather, I have some herbs that will help you sleep."  
  
"No! I'm fine," he repeated. Even the hiccup that followed sounded falsely bright. "I just..." Suddenly, he sat bolt upright. "I just need to write a letter!"  
  
"A letter?" she asked with a puzzled frown. "At this time of night?"  
  
Jae-shin nodded earnestly, jumping up to get paper and ink. "It's a very important letter. I really should write it before I forget."  
  
"For whom is the letter?"  
  
"It's for Professor Jung, my former teacher at Sungkyunkwan. We consulted him on the Blue Messenger case, and I haven't told him that the case has been closed." He gave her a small smile. "I should introduce you to him someday."  
  
She managed a smile in return. At least her husband was imagining a "someday" in which they were still together. "That would be nice," she said politely as she finished braiding her hair and secured the plait with a blue ribbon. "Well, I suppose I should go to bed."  
  
"You won't mind the light?"  
  
"No, it's fine." Especially since Ka-hai intended to only pretend to sleep until he himself went to bed. "Good night."  
  
"Good night." Jae-shin bit back a hiccup as he watched her his wife lie down, her back to him and the still-burning candle. He felt that he had made a very big mistake by rejecting her offer of help (and, perhaps, something more?), but he really did have to write to Professor Jung.  
  
More importantly, he needed time to understand his own feelings regarding the momentous discoveries he had made that night.


	17. Chapter 16, Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Technical Notes:** According to my research, the unit of currency in Joseon at this time was the mun, not the yang, but since they mentioned yang in SKKS, it's canon and so I must go with it. (There might also be some overlap somewhere, so that might be why the show uses yang... anyway, I'm not going to knock myself out about this.)
> 
> _EDIT 02-07-2016: Removed the Blue Messenger's family name because she, like Bok-dong, wouldn't be entitled to one. However, she gets to keep the horse._
> 
> **Author's Notes:** Thank you to meiji for the friendly reminder :D I had almost forgotten, LOL.

_Chapter Sixteen, Part Two_  
  
The Blue Messenger was impatient. Her wounds were healing nicely, but the fever had impeded her recovery, so she wasn't as strong as she would have liked. Nevertheless, once the danger of a relapse had passed, she began talking about taking her leave.  
  
Even though the idea was immensely appealing, Ka-hai wouldn't hear of it. "You're not completely well yet," she declared as she began putting away the medicines she had just administered. "It will take a long time before your arm and leg are fully healed."  
  
"My arm still hurts, but I can move it just fine," the Blue Messenger said. "And as for my leg, I'll just use a crutch and stay off it until it's strong again. Please don't get me wrong, my lady — I'm very grateful for all your help, but I'm tired of just lying around and doing nothing."  
  
She paused, then quirked an eyebrow. "I'm also tired of watching you and your husband dance around each other like two nervous dogs."  
  
Ka-hai looked down her nose at her patient. "Maybe your recovery would be faster if you focused on getting well instead of things that don't concern you."  
  
"I think it does concern me, even if only indirectly. You know that there's absolutely nothing going on between me and your husband, don't you?"  
  
The seal on a jar of ointment suddenly became incredibly fascinating. "I never thought that there was."  
  
"Oh, please. I don't mean to be a poor guest and doubt your good intentions, but I'm pretty sure that forcing all those terrible-tasting medicines down my throat is some form of petty revenge."  
  
"They're good for you."  
  
The Messenger smirked. "That doesn't make them taste any better. Anyway," she added her expression softening, "awful medicine aside, you should know that Lord Moon and I never did anything improper. We just talked — several times, I will admit, but we did nothing more than that. Your husband just gave me advice on the things I must do better as the Blue Messenger... and he talked about you."  
  
Ka-hai fought to keep her expression blank, but she couldn't do anything about the color rushing to her cheeks. "I'm sure he was complaining because I drove him crazy," she said stiffly.  
  
"He did," the other woman chuckled, "but I think you drove him crazy in a good way. It was obvious to me, even when the two of you were first married, that you were the only woman in his heart; and I can see now that you feel the same way about him. Who am I to get in the way of that?  
  
"I swear to you, my lady, that I never even thought of your husband in _that_ way, not once." The Blue Messenger's smile wavered and her eyes grew misty. "As you know, the Blue Messenger was born when my husband died. I loved him, and his death isn't something I can recover from quickly."  
  
Ka-hai tried to strengthen her resolve against this other woman, but the idea of losing her own husband, coupled with the tears that always threatened because of her pregnancy, made her attempts futile. "I don't think I ever said it," she said quietly, "but I'm sorry for your loss. I can barely imagine what that must be like."  
  
"I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I don't even know if I'll ever look for another man." The Messenger sniffled, then laughed. "Besides, I don't think I want to have to take care of another one."  
  
"They can be such babies at times," Ka-hai agreed, giving the Blue Messenger her first genuine smile in the course of the woman's entire stay. "Well, I suppose I should let you get some rest. I'll see you in the morning."  
  
The Blue Messenger nodded and settled back against her pillow. "Good night, and thank you."  
  
"Thank _you_ ," she answered.

* * *

Eventually, the Blue Messenger regained enough of her strength such that entreaties, objections and threats to get a real physician to examine her and maybe betray her secret could not sway her. Jae-shin and Ka-hai even appealed to Minister Moon, but the Moon patriarch — perhaps mindful of the risks of continuing to harbor a fugitive, or just tired of the tension she was causing between his son and daughter-in-law — unexpectedly sided with the Blue Messenger. With the head of the family having thus spoken, they had no choice but to let her have her way.  
  
The Blue Messenger took her leave one chilly autumn morning, dressed in some of Kwan-sook's old clothes, with a rough crutch at her side. She claimed that she was going to stay with some relatives in the country, and would come back once she was fully healed and the Messenger was forgotten, but they couldn't be too sure since she refused (and understandably so) to name names or places.  
  
Jae-shin and Ka-hai saw her off in the courtyard, after she had stopped by Minister Moon's study to pay her respects. She emerged from the house and paused at the top of the stone steps leading off the front porch. It was a cloudy day, but she lifted her face to the sky and smiled. "It feels good to be outdoors again."  
  
"Are you sure you'll be all right?" Ka-hai asked, and nodded towards the small bundle of food and money they had pressed upon her to help her through her journey. "Do you have enough?"  
  
"You can't load her down with more food," Jae-shin pointed out. "It might go bad before she can eat it. And if she carries too much money, it might attract attention."  
  
The Messenger nodded in agreement. "I'll be just fine, my lady. Don't worry about me."  
  
"I still don't like the idea of you traveling so far with that leg." She frowned fretfully, then suddenly drew herself up. "E-excuse me for a moment," she said shakily. "I'll be right back."  
  
As his wife hurried away, Jae-shin remembered that he, too, needed to do something. He presented the Blue Messenger with a folded piece of paper taken from his sleeve. "Here, take this."  
  
"What is it?" she asked, eyeing it warily.  
  
"It's a letter. In case you need to find work later on," he explained.  
  
"I think I'll be fine on my own, thank you."  
  
"Read it first," he advised, shaking it at her until she took it. "Then you can decide if it will be useful."  
  
Ka-hai returned not long after the exchange, leading a prancing chestnut horse by its bridle. As her husband looked on in surprise, she placed the reins in the other woman's hand. "This is Chul-moo," she said, ignoring the Messenger's protests. "He'll help you get out of the city faster."  
  
Jae-shin's jaw dropped. "Ka-hai, you can't—"  
  
"Yes, I can," she told him curtly. "He's mine and I can do what I want with him. Put your hand on his nose so he can get used to your scent," she ordered the Blue Messenger, who wisely did as she was told. Although he still had a reputation among the grooms for being temperamental, Chul-moo was as gentle as a kitten when the stranger laid her hand on him, even nuzzling her affectionately.  
  
"If anyone asks you where you got him," Ka-hai continued with a tiny tremor in her voice, "just tell them that he was a gift from your mistress when you got hurt saving her life... or something like that." She swallowed and waved a hand impatiently. "Say whatever you want. I'm tired of making up stories."  
  
She turned her attention to the horse, stroking his neck and forehead. "This woman is your mistress now," she told him. "She's hurt and she needs you to take care of her. Do you understand?"  
  
Chul-moo snorted. He most probably did understand.  
  
Ka-hai gave a brisk nod of satisfaction. "You should probably go," she said to the Blue Messenger.  
  
"That would be a good idea," the other woman agreed. She laid her pack in front of the saddle and, refusing their help, laboriously swung her injured leg over the horse's back. "Thank you, my lord, my lady... for everything. I don't know if I'll ever be able to repay you—"  
  
"Never mind that. Just take care of Chul-moo." She laughed shakily. "And don't do anything stupid to undo all my hard work in healing you."  
  
"I promise I'll take care of him, and I won't do anything stupid." The Blue Messenger laughed, too, and gave them a final nod. "Goodbye."  
  
"Goodbye," Jae-shin answered. "Be well."  
  
"And if you ever need to sell him," Ka-hai called as horse and rider started on their way out of the courtyard, "don't take anything lower than a hundred yang!"  
  
Jae-shin took his wife's hand and they watched the Blue Messenger disappear from sight. "Thank you again," he said quietly when Chul-moo turned a corner and was gone. "I would have understood if you had chosen not to help, but I knew that you would never turn away a person in need."  
  
She ducked her head and muttered something unintelligible.  
  
"What did you say?"  
  
She was silent for a moment before answering. "I said didn't do it because it was the right thing to do." Her lips pressed together, as if trying to keep the rest of her answer inside, but finally, she said, "I did it because... I did it because I love you."  
  
His heart leapt at that, but to his surprise, she withdrew her hand from his. As he looked on, confused, she turned and walked away again. This time, she didn't say that she was coming back.

* * *

Jae-shin found her in the stables, kicking at the straw in Chul-moo's abandoned stall. The hiccups had been threatening again, but they quickly dissipated when he saw that his wife she was very upset: the loud shuffling of the straw almost, but not quite, disguised the sound of her sniffles. "Ka-hai, are you all right?"  
  
"I'm fine," she replied, but she kept her face averted and her voice sounded watery. "I'm always like this when I have to let a horse go. That's why my brothers take them to the marketplace, not me."  
  
A wise man would have left her to herself. Jae-shin, on the other hand, touched her arm gently, which caused her to burst into full-fledged tears and fling herself upon him. "I'm s-sorry," she sobbed, hiding her face in his shoulder. "I'm so sorry."  
  
He froze as she clung to him, but he squelched his initial terror to embrace her awkwardly. "There, there," he said, patting her back and cringing over the inadequacy of the words. "You're just sad about giving up Chul-moo. I understand." His arms tightened around her as he thought about what it had taken for her to make that sacrifice. "For whatever it's worth, it was very noble of you and I'm sure the Blue Messenger will—"  
  
"I'm not t-talking about _that_. I mean all those s-stupid things I said before." Ka-hai's shoulders hitched on a gasping sob. "I thought about it a-and you were right — those messages are important because they m-make people think more about making things b-better. I'm so sorry...."  
  
"Sshhh, don't think about that anymore," he soothed, wondering why she was bringing it up again. "It's forgotten."  
  
"But I h-hurt you, and I didn't mean to—"  
  
"I know you didn't. You didn't know anything about my past. And the things you said weren't completely wrong," Jae-shin pointed out. "Even if there were more thinkers in this world, they need doers for their ideas to be of any use. Thought and action are meaningless when they're not together, the same way...." A tiny hiccup escaped him, but he screwed up his courage and forged on. "The same way," he said softly, "that I don't make sense without you.  
  
"What I'm trying to say," he continued when she continued to weep stormily into his shoulder, "is that I love you, too."  
  
"When did you know?" she demanded, sniffling.  
  
He suppressed an exasperated sigh by pressing a kiss to her cheek. "I don't know. I think I started falling in love with you when you were tending to that wound on my arm. No, I think it was when you slapped me when we argued about that old neighbor of yours. No," he concluded finally, smiling at the memory, "I think it was the day we first met. I knew you were mine even then.  
  
"Ka-hai, you're starting to scare me," he said when his momentous confession failed to stop her crying. Her tears were starting to soak through his clothes.  
  
"I'm f-fine," she hiccuped. "This is s-supposed to happen to women in my c-condition."  
  
"What condition is that?" he asked, frowning. Was she sick? If she was, why didn't she say anything?  
  
Another shudder ran through her as she let out what sounded, thankfully, like a thin laugh. "I'm pregnant."  
  
_"What?!"_ Jae-shin drew away abruptly. _"Really?!"_  
  
"That's hardly something I would joke about," Ka-hai sniffled, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. She took his hand and pressed it to her abdomen. "Do you feel that?"  
  
She waited as he patted her belly carefully, and he must have been able to detect the slight swelling even through all the layers of her skirts because a broad grin soon spread across his face. "How long?" he asked.  
  
"Less than three months, I think, so it should be born around summertime." She sniffled again and mustered a shy smile. "Are you pleased?"  
  
"'Pleased' doesn't even begin to describe it!" Her husband laughed with jubilation. "I'm—I'm—" With words failing him, he decided to take action instead, hauling her against him and kissing her soundly.  
  
They were just beginning to enjoy the kiss when he gasped suddenly and pulled away again, looking stricken. "But we— _you know_ —that night—"  
  
"Um, yes, well, you don't have to worry about that." Ka-hai felt her face grow warm. "The doctor told me that sort of thing is perfectly safe for now."  
  
"Oh," he said, going from blanched to blushing in a heartbeat. "Well... good." He glanced away, then turned back to her as he remembered something. "Does my father know that you're—that we're—"  
  
"That we're going to have a baby?" she finished for him.  
  
He nodded, grinning again as he tried out the words for himself. "Yes, that we're going to have a baby."  
  
"Abeonim knew that I didn't feel well for a while," she told him truthfully. Luckily for her, the nausea had become manageable after the first week or so; and she wasn't sure, but it felt as though it was even starting to go away. "But I wanted you to be the first to know when I was sure."  
  
"How long have you known?"  
  
"A few weeks," she admitted. "I wanted to tell you sooner, but...."  
  
"But we weren't speaking to each other," Jae-shin sighed, looking contrite. "I'm sorry about that. I wish I had been there to help you through, well, whatever it was you were going through."  
  
"I was at fault, too," Ka-hai said, and managed a smile. "As you said, it's all forgotten. Besides," she added audaciously, "you have several months to make up for your neglect. For instance, I'm craving some radish kimchi right now."  
  
He gave her a narrow-eyed glance, but the cold expression quickly melted and he leaned over, chuckling, to give her a gentle kiss. "We should tell my father right now."  
  
"I want to eat kimchi first," she told him, only half-joking.  
  
"I'll get you all the kimchi you want after we tell Abeonim — _and_ after we write to your parents."  
  
She pouted. "I thought you felt bad about neglecting me."  
  
Ignoring that, he started to tow her out of the stables. "Then I have to tell In-soo to get married soon," he went on, "so that you can come to the wedding. And Sun-joon should know," he went on. "Have you heard that Yoon-hee is having a baby, too? And of course we should tell Yong-ha."  
  
Jae-shin interrupted his recitation to tug impatiently on her hand. "Stop dawdling! Do you want that kimchi or not?"  
  
Ka-hai squealed when he scooped her up into his arms and carried her towards the house. Being a father himself, Minister Moon might have already guessed that she was pregnant without her having to tell him. She hoped that he would at least pretend to be surprised when his son proudly broke the news.

* * *

Not long after the first snowfall, a Sungkyunkwan campus guard located Professor Jung Yak-yong in his office. "Excuse me, Professor," the young man said deferentially. "You have a visitor."  
  
"Who is it?" the professor asked. He looked up from the assignments he was grading to find a young woman standing at the door, dressed in the plain clothing of the servant class. Just over her shoulder, he could see a brown horse tethered to one of the outer posts. "Yes?" he asked with a polite smile.  
  
"Are you Professor Jung?" the woman asked.  
  
"I am," he confirmed. "Please come in. How may I help you, madam?"  
  
She moved stiffly, leaning on a walking stick, as she entered the office. "My name is Min-kyung," she said, and held out a letter. "I have a letter from Officer Moon Jae-shin. He said I could talk to you about applying to become a Sungkyunkwan scholar."


	18. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Author's Notes:** Well, here we are at the end of this fic :( It's sad, but at the same time I'm glad that I'm actually finishing stories these days. I'm also excited to move on to more SKKS projects, the main one of which is (as I've told a number of people) a story for Yong-ha.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who left kudos or comments, or otherwise followed this story until the end. I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> _EDIT 02-07-2016: Corrected the Romanized spelling of the Korean word for "Mommy." I didn't know Hangul when I first wrote this, and didn't bother to correct my spelling when I did learn a bit of Korean._

_Epilogue_  
  
"Ouuuuch! Appaaaaaa!"  
  
The piping cry of pain roused both Jae-shin and the infant napping in the sling across his chest. Instantly on the alert, he sat bolt upright as a boy of about six ran up with a cut finger and an aggrieved expression on his little face. The kitchen boy Sang-hun, now a strapping lad in his teens, came up behind him.  
  
"What happened?" Jae-shin demanded of the pair.  
  
"He cut himself on the tip of an arrow, my lord," Sang-hun reported. "Even when you already told him not to touch them." The child shot him a mutinous glare, but the older boy had no qualms about returning it. The young lord had tasked him to watch over the heir, and Sang-hun's loyalty was to Jae-shin first and foremost.  
  
Jae-shin ordered him to go and fetch Ka-hai, then turned his attention back to the injured party. "Moon Jin-young," he said, his authoritative tone a stark contrast to the gentleness in his touch as he turned his son's face to look at him. "Archery is serious business. If you're going to disobey my instructions, I might just stop your lessons. Do you understand?"  
  
Cowed by the prospect, Jin-young nodded, his lower lip trembling.  
  
"And another thing," Jae-shin continued. "No son of mine is going to get into the habit of crying over a mere scratch. I know that it hurts and you're scared, but you're going to be all right. I've been hurt much worse than that and I never made a sound. Now show me your cold face."  
  
"Yes, my lord." Nodding again, the child managed to blink back the tears that had threatened and bring his lip under control. Jae-shin couldn't help marveling as Jin-young set his small jaw. Looking at his son's face was like facing a mirror to the past; apart from the pronounced cheekbones that could only have come from his Cha forebears, the boy was his spitting image.  
  
"That's better."  
  
Just then, the baby gurgled and a reached out tiny hand for Jin-young's injured finger. She inspected it gravely, like a doctor examining a patient, before tugging it towards her mouth.  
  
"Ugh, Chae-young, no!" her brother exclaimed, pulling the digit out of her grasp. Moon Chae-young began to howl.  
  
A female voice cut into the commotion. "I guess it's a good thing that I left you with only two of the children for a minute, or else all of them would be crying."  
  
Father and son turned to the woman striding up to them, with Sang-hun and a toddler trailing behind her. "I wasn't crying, Eomma," Jin-young protested.  
  
"And you left me with them for much longer than a minute," Jae-shin added, raising his voice over the infant's shrill cries.  
  
Ka-hai looked at the pair for a moment before sighing and producing the small medical kit that years of being a mother to two very active little boys (and wife to a man who still got his fair share of cuts and scrapes) had taught her to carry at all times. "Come here, Jin-young, and let me look at that cut," she ordered briskly. "Hak-young, go to your father. Jae-shin, keep an eye on him and the baby, will you?"  
  
Obediently, three-year-old Moon Hak-young toddled over to his father. Unlike his hyung, the sturdy little boy resembled his Grandfather Moon, which made him a favorite with the old man. "Appa, look!" he said, displaying a dimpled smile and a fat puppy clutched very carefully in his hands.  
  
"Very nice," Jae-shin replied, but raised a hand to prevent him from bringing the animal closer to his sister.  
  
"But the puppy will make her happy," Hak-young protested.  
  
"Maybe when she's older. Right now, she's too little to play with it. Why don't you sit here by me and play with the puppy by yourself?"  
  
The boy thought it over for a moment. Having no objections to keeping his pet all to himself, he shrugged his shoulders and plunked himself down next to his father. "All right."  
  
With Hak-young busy romping with his puppy and Jin-young in his mother's care, Jae-shin was free to turn his attention to his daughter. Speaking in a low, quiet voice, he began to soothe her, the way he had his sons when they had been infants — by reciting the Analects of Confucius.  
  
Ka-hai maintained that it was a strange way to soothe a baby, but he responded loftily that Moon Jae-shin did not croon like a woman, or babble nonsense like an idiot. ("At least not in public," his wife laughed, irreverent as always.) Besides, one couldn't argue with the results: just like her brothers before her, Chae-young quieted partway into his recitation, then gave her father one of the increasingly frequent smiles that never failed to make his heart turn over.  
  
"It's going to be my horse, won't it, Eomma?" he heard Jin-young ask when Chae-young was happy again. Mother and son had clearly been discussing the new foal that had been born on the Cha estate.  
  
"It's supposed to be," she told him, "but if disobeying your father is going to become a habit, then it just might go to someone else."  
  
Jin-young looked at his father with accusing eyes. "Did you make Eomma say that, Appa?"  
  
"How could I have done that?" Jae-shin protested, reaching over just in time to keep Hak-young from tumbling backwards when the puppy pounced on him a bit too energetically. "I've been sitting over here all this time." He arched an amused eyebrow at the woman in question. "Maybe we just think alike."  
  
He and Ka-hai exchanged grins and their firstborn threw up his hands (one with a half-bandaged finger) in defeat. It was always nice to get some support from his wife, he thought as she took the boy's hand again to finish her ministrations; especially when it was unexpected.  
  
"There." Ka-hai knotted the bandage closed and gave her son a penetrating look. "Is this going to happen ever again?"  
  
Jin-young shook his head, looking abashed. "No, my lady."  
  
"Good. Now, we should probably all go back in the house," she announced, looking up at the sky. "It looks like it's going to rain. Sang-hun, please go to the kitchen and ask Master Jeung to prepare something for the children to eat. Get yourself a snack, too."  
  
"Yes, my lady." The kitchen boy sketched a bow and went off to do her bidding.  
  
"Hak-young, find your socks and shoes; it's time to go back in the house. He was wearing them just a while ago," she muttered, shaking her head and walking over to help her husband to his feet. Chae-young gurgled happily at the sight of her mother and held out her arms to be carried.  
  
"I guess I'm only good for sleeping on," Jae-shin said dryly as he prepared to transfer the baby, sling and all, to his wife.  
  
"Of course not," Ka-hai assured him. "You know that Chae-young adores you." She snickered. "But no matter how tall you might stand in her eyes, she knows where her food is coming from."  
  
"Good point," he admitted. He fastened the sling around her and, taking advantage of his position, leaned over for a kiss.  
  
They broke apart when they heard gagging noises, and looked down to see Jin-young screwing up his face with a small boy's disgust at public displays of affection. Naturally, his younger brother followed his lead; only the puppy, preoccupied with gnawing on one of its master's shoes, didn't seem to mind.  
  
Jae-shin chuckled and laid a hand on each boy's head to ruffle their hair. "You may be making those faces about this now...." he began.  
  
"... but you'll be hiccuping when you're older?" Ka-hai finished for him, grinning unrepentantly.  
  
He made a face at his wife. "Something like that."  
  
She laughed and then it was her turn to kiss him. "Come, let's go inside."  
  
Jae-shin bent down to scoop up Hak-young's shoes and socks and, herding the boys and the puppy in front of them, husband and wife started towards the house.  
  
THE END


End file.
